In early December 1891, Dr. James Naismith , a native of Almonte, Ontario , physician from McGill University and minister on the faculty of a college for YMCA professionals (today, Springfield College ) in Springfield, Massachusetts , USA , sought a vigorous indoor game to keep his students occupied and at proper levels of fitness during the long New England winters. After rejecting other ideas as either too rough or poorly suited to walled-in gymnasiums , he wrote the basic rules and nailed a peach basket onto an 10-foot (3.05 m) elevated track. In contrast with modern basketball nets, this peach basket retained its bottom, so balls scored into the basket had to be poked out with a long dowel each time. A soccer ball was used to shoot goals. His handwritten diaries of the time indicate that he was nervous about this invention, which incorporated rules from a Canadian children's game called " Duck on a Rock ", as many had failed before it. [1]

Naismith's new game is quite similar to the game of team handball , which had already been invented in the early 1890s.

Women's basketball began in 1892 at Smith College when Senda Berenson , a physical education teacher, modified Naismith's rules for women. The first official basketball game was played in the YMCA gymnasium on January 20 , 1892 with nine players, on a court just half the size of a present-day National Basketball Association (NBA) court. "Basket ball", the name suggested by one of Naismith's students, was popular from the beginning.

Basketball's early adherents were dispatched to YMCAs throughout the United States, and it quickly spread through the USA and Canada. By 1896, it was well established at several women's colleges. While the YMCA was responsible for initially developing and spreading the game, within a decade it discouraged the new sport, as rough play and rowdy crowds began to detract from the YMCA's primary mission. However, other amateur sports clubs, colleges, and professional clubs quickly filled the void. In the years before World War I, the Amateur Athletic Union and the Intercollegiate Athletic Association (forerunner of the NCAA ) vied for control over the rules for the game.

Basketball was originally played with a soccer ball. The first balls made specifically for basketball were brown, and it was only in the late 1950s that Tony Hinkle , searching for a ball that would be more visible to players and spectators alike, introduced the orange ball that is now in common use.

Dribbling, the bouncing of the ball up and down while moving, was not part of the original game except for the "bounce pass" to teammates. Passing the ball was the primary means of ball movement. Dribbling was eventually introduced but limited by the asymmetric shape of early balls. Dribbling only became a major part of the game around the 1950s as manufacturing improved the ball shape.

Basketball, netball , volleyball , and lacrosse are the only ball games which have been identified as being invented by North Americans. Other ball games, such as baseball and Canadian football , have Commonwealth of Nations , European, Asian or African connections.

Naismith and Berenson were instrumental in establishing college basketball . Naismith coached at University of Kansas for six years before handing the reins to renowned coach Phog Allen . Naismith's disciple Amos Alonzo Stagg brought basketball to the University of Chicago , while Adolph Rupp , a student of Naismith's at Kansas, enjoyed great success as coach at the University of Kentucky . In 1892, University of California and Miss Head's School, played the first women's inter-institutional game. Berenson's freshmen played the sophomore class in the first women's collegiate basketball game at Smith College , March 21, 1893. The same year, Mount Holyoke and Sophie Newcomb College (coached by Clara Gregory Baer ) women began playing basketball. By 1895, the game had spread to colleges across the country, including Wellesley , Vassar and Bryn Mawr . The first intercollegiate women's game was on April 4, 1896. Stanford women played Berkeley , 9-on-9, ending in a 2-1 Stanford victory. In 1901, colleges, including the University of Chicago , Columbia University , Dartmouth College , University of Minnesota , the U.S. Naval Academy , the University of Utah and Yale University began sponsoring men's games. By 1910, frequent injuries on the men's courts prompted President Roosevelt to suggest that college basketball form a governing body. And the Intercollegiate Athletic Association (IAA) was created.

Teams abounded from through the 1920s. There were hundreds of men's professional basketball teams in towns and cities all over the United States and little organization of the professional game. Players jumped from team to team and teams played in armories and smoky dance halls. Leagues came and went. And barnstorming squads such as the Original Celtics and two all African American teams, the New York Renaissance Five ("Rens") and (still in existence as of 2006 ) the Harlem Globetrotters played up to two hundred games a year on their national tours. Women's basketball was more structured. In 1905, the National Women's Basketball Committee's Executive Committee on Basket Ball Rules was created by the American Physical Education Association . These rules called for six to nine players per team and 11 officials. The International Women's Sports Federation (1924) included a women's basketball competition. 37 women's high school varsity basketball or state tournaments were held by 1925. And in 1926, the Amateur Athletic Union backed the first national women's basketball championship , complete with men's rules. The first women's AAU All-America team was chosen in 1929. Women's industrial leagues sprang up throughout the nation, producing famous athletes like Babe Didrikson of the Golden Cyclones and the All American Red Heads Team who competed against men's teams, using men's rules. By 1938, the women's national championship changed from a three-court game to two-court game with six players per team. The first men's national championship tournament, the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) in New York, was organized in 1938.

College basketball was rocked by gambling scandals from 1948 to 1951, when dozens of players from top teams were implicated in match fixing and point shaving . Partially spurred by an association with cheating, the NIT lost support to the NCAA national tournament .