The first game similar to basketball may have been played by the early people of ancient Mexico as early as 500’s. The Mayan people used the decapitated skulls of their enemies as the ball. They also made sacrifices if you did not win the game. James Naismith was a man born on In 1861, James Naismith invented basketball. The idea of basketball came from Naismith's early school education. He used to play a game known as duck-on-a-rock. The idea was to knock a "duck" off a large rock by throwing another rock at it. While he worked at YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts he created basketball. In Springfield, he had to find a sport that could be played inside during the Massachusetts cold winter …show more content…
Eventually, because of how rough the game became the YMCA banned it within 10 years. Groups started forming locally in larger cities such as New York and Boston. The first known professional game was between Trenton YMCA and Brooklyn YMCA. The players were paid fifteen dollars each for the game. Numerous leagues formed after that and seasons were short. In 1902, the first African American to play in a game was Bucky Lew. In 1901, colleges began playing basketball as well. The games were very rough and players were often injured as rules were not enforced and few trained referees. Theodore Roosevelt eventually had to step in and suggest the colleges form a governing body to help control the sport. Professional leagues were not as popular as college, but some independent teams such as the Harlem Globetrotters continued to exist. The NBA (National BAsketball Association) was formed with the merger of the NBL (National BAsketball League) and BAA (Basketball Association of America) in 1949. The new league started with 17 teams. As of 2010 the NBA has thirty teams in its league. Basketball had its early days in the school playground from its inception with James Naismith. It eventually was played in the Olympics in Berlin in 1936 and is played on college campus, high schools and in the professional realm of the