New Delhi: Search giant Google Doodle is today celebrating the legacy of Canadian-American physical educator and coach James Naismith for his enormous contribution to the field of sports. For those who aren’t aware, Dr James Naismith invented one of the most popular games- basketball– 130 years ago as an “athletic distraction” to immerse students during winters.
In the honor of James Naismith, Google Doodle today dedicated an animation depicting two children playing Basketball and Naismith making his observations on the game. If you click on the animation, Google will land you on various pages that are talking about him. Alternatively, you can read about Naismith and his relationship with Basketball here.
Here’s all you need to know about this great man:
Naismith was born on November 6, 1861, in Ontario. He went on to study Physical Education at the prestigious McGill University. He had been enthusiastic about sports from a very young age.
He later moved to the USA. He taught physical education at the YMCA International Training College in Massachusetts.
It is significant to note that Naismith sought to dismantle institutionalized racism with the help of basketful. His aim behind inventing the game was also for students to work on themselves mentally and physically.
On December 21, 1890, he took his students to the court for a match for the first time. Prior to that, he had posted the rules of the game on a bulletin board. While devising the game, he used rules of a host of games including soccer, American football, and rugby.
Soon the game became renowned and made its entry in the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin.
Naismith died at the age of 78 after suffering a brain haemorrhage.