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The Birth and Growth of Roundball
Unlike baseball and football, which grew out of earlier pastimes,
basketball was consciously invented in 1891 to fill a need for an active,
indoor sport. James Naismith of Canada, a student at the YMCA training
school in Springfield, Massachusetts, invented the game. The game spread first to YMCAs
across the country. Within months, its rules were adapted for play by
girls.
After World War I, the original governing body for high school
sports, the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Association (followed in
1924 by its successor, the MHSAA), became the arbiters of rules for boys'
games played under its auspices:
- Substitution rules initially allowed no return to the game by a
player who had come out. This restriction was loosened gradually
beginning in 1921; beginning with the 1943-44 season, players could
enter and leave a game any number of times.
- In 1923, players were required to take their own free throws after
being fouled. Previously, another player was allowed to stand in for
a weak shooter.
- In 1937, the jump ball after every basket was discontinued, a
change that speeded up games and permitted more scoring.
- Equipment changed over time. Naismith's original game used peach baskets,
with an attendant on a ladder retrieving the ball. Nets were
substituted, but were not
consistently open at the bottom until about 1910.
 Ball size was standardized in the 1930s.
Basketball was taken up in Michigan high schools by girls first, as
they had no other team sports available to them. High school boys began
forming basketball teams between 1905 and 1910. Beginning in 1926, the
boys' basketball tournament became the MHSAA's premier event and the
major financial backbone of the organization. By 1929, basketball
counted more participants than any other school sport. Annual
tournaments crowned boys' champions in four classes, based on school
enrollment.
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