The idea of basketball started in 1891 by James Naismith. Naismith was teaching a physical education class at the YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts when he created the game. Naismith was trying to think of a way to keep his class of rowdy students occupied during the winter months. When coming up for the idea of the game, Naismith thought back to his childhood and of the games he used to play. In the end, he nailed peach baskets to the wall in a gymnasium. The idea of the game was to put the ball into the peach basket more times than your opponent. The game started to spread globally because the students he taught traveled diversely.

           The sport itself took off very quickly due to it being a fun and simply game that could be playing during the winter and indoors. Naismith’s legacy continued in the sport being with Forrest Allen who coached the University of Kansas basketball team, which were extremely successful. Allen had learned the game from Naismith himself after playing for him during his collegiate career. Forrest Allen had many all-star players come through his program; one of those such players was Wilt Chamberlain.

           Per usual of most exciting and fast-paced sports, many people wanted to watch the best of the best in their field. The first professional game was playing on November 7, 1896 in the Trenton Masoci temple. Then two years after the first professional game was played, the first professional league was formed in 1898. The league, known as the National Basketball League (NBL) and was mainly made up of teams from the Philadelphia and New Jersey areas. Six original teams decided to join the league. Multiple other leagues started to pop up around the country, but sadly, none of them was ever successful.

           Then in 1901, the game of basketball would be changed forever. This was the year that college basketball games began to be sponsored by outside organizations. This is gave businesses the opportunity to put there name out during collegiate games. There were only seven colleges who allowed there games to be sponsored. In our current day in age, it is almost impossible to not see a company’s logo on the big screen, scorer’s table, or even the court. This step in allowing outside businesses to sponsor collegiate teams and game is something that is very popular in today’s game. Nike, Under Armour, Adidas, or some other organization sponsors almost every team.

           Nowadays, the game has changed a lot. The first thirteen rules that Naismith put in have either been changed or discarded, the game is much faster paced and well known, the players are making millions of dollars compared to just a few when it started. Every game is televised with sometimes thousands of people in attendance. The game has gone from a back yard game played with peach baskets to one of the world’s most common games being played.