People often wonder about the origins of the cosmos and the big bang theory. An endless pursuit of the defining moment of our origins that might never be truly answered. But you know what can be pinned down? THE basketball big bang moment that gave birth to our beloved game!

“Put the ball in the basket” — that’s what the man born on November the 6th 1861 might have said to his wife, the man to whom all of us involved in basketball, in any capacity, owe immense gratitude for his persistence and inventiveness.

The Canadian-born James Naismith, a physical education instructor at Springfield College in Massachusetts, was looking for a way to keep his students active during the cold December nights of 1891, when outdoor exercise was impossible due to the weather. His supervisor, Dr. Luther Gulick, had given him a two-week deadline, and time was running out. Gulick’s only demand was that the new game should be “fair for all players and not rough.” Naismith initially tried adapting the popular sports of the time—baseball and football—to the gym, but without success. The only thing he kept was the round soccer ball, which fit better with the concept forming in his mind. He then noticed that most injuries happened when players tried to run with the ball, because of the physical contact.

To avoid this, he decided that passing should be the only way to move the ball. But there also had to be a reward — a goal for the players to aim at. So he asked the building’s janitor, Bob Stebbins, for two wooden boxes. The only thing Stebbins could find, however, were two empty peach baskets. With that problem solved, a new one arose — where to place the baskets.

They couldn’t be on the ground; they needed to be higher up, so that players couldn’t simply crowd around them and block opponents from scoring. But hanging the baskets also required a new shooting technique, different from the straight-line throws his students were used to. That’s when Naismith remembered a childhood game called “Duck on a Rock.” In it, the goal was to hit a target (the “duck”) that an opponent protected with his outstretched arms. Naismith and his friends had quickly learned that the best way to hit the target wasn’t a straight throw but one that followed an arched trajectory through the air. That childhood memory gave the Canadian the idea for the first primitive basketball shot.

On December 21, 1891, the 18 YMCA students played the first game — nine against nine — and it soon descended into chaos. The rules weren’t yet clear, and the players, used to football, couldn’t resist kicking, tackling, and rough play.

To eliminate this problem, Naismith introduced a new rule — one that seems trivial today, but was revolutionary then: no running with the ball. It turned out to be the key that made the game safer. In the next match, everyone left the gym uninjured.

On January 15, 1892, the college newspaper, The Triangle, published the 13 original rules of the newborn sport.

Basket Ball, James Naismith’s “child,” had just begun its journey to conquer the world.