James Naismith - University of Kansas

University of Kansas

The University of Kansas men's basketball program officially began in 1898, following Naismith's arrival, just six years after Naismith penned the sport's first official rules. Naismith was not initially hired to coach basketball, but rather as a chapel director and physical education instructor. In these early days, the majority of the basketball games were played against nearby YMCA teams, with YMCA's across the nation having played an integral part in the birth of basketball. Other common opponents were Haskell Indian Nations University and William Jewell College. Under Naismith, the team played only one current Big 12 school: Kansas State (once). Naismith was, ironically, the only coach in the program's history to have a losing record (55–60). However, Naismith coached Forrest "Phog" Allen, his eventual successor at Kansas, who went on to join his mentor in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. When Allen became a coach himself and told him that he was going to coach basketball at Baker University in 1904, Naismith discouraged him: "You can't coach basketball; you just play it." Instead, Allen embarked on a coaching career that would lead him to be known as "the Father of Basketball Coaching." During his time at Kansas, Allen coached Dean Smith (1952 National Championship team) and Adolph Rupp (1922 Helms Foundation National Championship team). When Dean Smith retired as head Basketball coach at North Carolina he was the winningest coach in college basketball history, #2 was Adolph Rupp (Kentucky) and #3 was Allen. The three coaches have joined Naismith as members of the Basketball Hall of Fame.

By the turn of the century, there were enough college teams in the East of the U.S. that the first intercollegiate competitions could be played out. Although his sport continuously grew, Naismith long regarded his game as a curiosity and preferred gymnastics and wrestling as better forms of physical education. However, basketball became a demonstration sport at the 1904 Games in St. Louis. As the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame reports, Naismith was also neither interested in self-promotion nor in the glory of competitive sports. Instead, he was more interested in his physical education career, receiving an honorary PE Masters degree in 1910, patrolled the Mexican border for four months in 1916 during World War I, traveled to France, published two books ("A Modern College" in 1911 and "Essence of a Healthy Life" in 1918) and took on American citizenship in 1925.

In 1935, the National Association of Basketball Coaches (created by Naismith's pupil Phog Allen) collected money so that the 74-year old Naismith could witness the introduction of basketball into the official Olympic sports program of the 1936 Summer Olympic Games. There, Naismith handed out the medals to three North American teams; United States, for the Gold Medal, Canada, for the Silver Medal, and Mexico, for their Bronze medal win. During the Olympics, he was named the Honorary President of the International Basketball Federation. When Naismith returned he commented that seeing the game played by many nations was the greatest compensation he could have received for his invention. In 1937, Naismith played a role in the formation of the National Association of Intercollegiate Basketball, which later became the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).

In his later years, Naismith became Professor Emeritus in Kansas and retired in 1937 at the age of 76. Including his years as coach, Naismith served as athletic director and faculty at the school for a total of almost 40 years. Naismith died in 1939 after he suffered a fatal brain hemorrhage and was buried in Lawrence, Kansas. Posthumously, his masterwork "Basketball — its Origins and Development" was published in 1941. In Lawrence, Kansas, James Naismith has a road named in his honour, Naismith Drive, which runs in front of Allen Fieldhouse (the official address of Allen Fieldhouse is 1651 Naismith Drive), the university's basketball facility. It is a separated, four-lane road that runs north and south from University Drive south to its end at 24th street, just south of the KU campus. The university also named the court in Allen Fieldhouse, James Naismith Court in his honour. Naismith Hall, a college residential dormitory, is located on the northeastern edge of 19th Street and Naismith Drive.