Basketball Was Invented With Peach Baskets and a Soccer Ball

When James Naismith invented basketball in 1891 at a YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts, he had limited equipment available. He asked the school janitor for two square boxes to use as goals, but the janitor returned with peach baskets instead. Naismith nailed these baskets to the lower rail of the gymnasium balcony, which happened to be exactly 10 feet high, the standard hoop height still used today. The first games used a soccer ball, and after each basket was scored, play stopped while someone climbed a ladder to retrieve the ball. The first game ever played was a complete brawl, with one boy knocked out, several black eyes, and one dislocated shoulder. Naismith was afraid they would kill each other, but the students kept nagging him to play again.