5 stamps
Pen and ink sketch
Dark blue on chocolate matting
Basketball is the only major sport played in the United States that has uniquely American origins. In 1891 the faculty of Springfield College (Springfield MA) desired to have a sport that could be played during the winter season and asked Dr. James E. Naismith, a physical education instructor at the Young Men’s Christian Association in Springfield, to devise such a game. The result was basketball using genuine peach baskets hung at each end of a gymnasium. Originally the number of players varied from 5 to 15, and body contact was limited so as to “eliminate roughness, such as shouldering, pushing, and kicking. The ball was to be handled with only the hands. It could not be drawn into the body and thus encourage roughness.” The first formal contest took place on January 20,1892 with seven men on a side. This number varied until 1897 when five players on each team became the standard. Originally a “center jump” was used after every score which favored height advantaged people and eventually the jump was used only at the start of each half and tru jump ball situations to determine possession. It became an Olympic game in 1936.
