Dr. James Surrell, Journal columnist

Now that we are well into our wonderful entertaining basketball season, let’s take a brief look at the history of this great game. The game of basketball was invented by James Naismith in 1891 in Springfield, Massachusetts. He wanted to create an indoor sport to condition athletes during the cold winter months. Mr. Naismith was a physical education instructor at the YMCA International Training School, which eventually became Springfield College.

Further, Mr. James Naismith wanted to create a sport that also was much less injury-prone than the game of football. He was a 31 year old graduate student at Springfield College when he worked to created this fun, great exercise sport that could be played indoors during the cold snowy winters in Massachusetts. He certainly met his goal to create a very popular indoor sport that would be enjoyed by so many playing basketball and also by those watching this great sport.

The game caught on very quickly to so very many student athletes, coaches, and multiple schools, and it kept growing in popularity well into the 20th century. It first became popular in America and then branched out to also become very popular in many other countries all over the world. Basketball got introduced to the rest of the world thanks to the US Army and the YMCA. Then in 1893, the first ever international basketball match was organized, and basketball continued to spread to many world-wide nations.

By 1900, a majority of major colleges were fielding a team, and in 1905 formal collegiate rules were introduced for basketball. Then, in 1909, basketball became one of the official sports of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, most commonly referred to by its abbreviation (NCAA). The very first NCAA college basketball tournament was held in 1939. Of course, this great sport of basketball has grown to be one of the most popular sports in the world, providing great athletic training and sports entertainment for so many.

Following is some silly basketball humor for all of us fans of this great sport.

– What is the favorite restaurant of most basketball players? “Dunkin’ Donuts”.

– I couldn’t figure out why that basketball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.

– Basketball players are all very messy eaters, because they are always dribbling.

– What do you call a person running back and forth and shouting? A basketball coach

– The basketball player needed to get a new uniform, so he went to “New Jersey”.

– Cinderella got thrown off the basketball team because she ran away from the ball.

– What are the favorite stories of most basketball players? They like “Tall Stories”.

– Who is the favorite poet of most basketball players? Longfellow.

– Many basketball players avoid vacations because they don’t want to get caught traveling.