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Basketball was spelled as "basket ball," that is, using two words, until
well into the 1920s!
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Basketball uniform tops were made using wool!
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The wool textile was manufactured on looms set up to make a certain kind of knit known as "jersey" knit, a fabric that could breath and stretch; that's why basketball tops are called "jerseys" today!
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Basketball jerseys were made with a button crotch (imagine a baby's "onesie") to keep them from becoming untucked as well as to hold a player's athletic protector in place!
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Early laced basketballs had to be unlaced, bounce tested, and re-laced again and again until the air pressure inside the ball was considered just right!
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Early basketball baskets
weren't open at the bottom!
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Referees had
to use a broomstick to poke the ball out
after each made basket, or use a pull-string
designed to tip over the basket so the
ball could roll out!
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This meant there was
no such thing as a "dunk" for fear that
the ball might hit the bottom of the basket
and carom out!
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The basketball hoop is 10 feet off of the floor because when Dr. James Naismith nailed his peach basketball up at the Springfield YMCA in 1891, he nailed it to the running track that circles the gym, and the standard architectural height of YMCA running tracks was 10 feet off the gym floor!
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A jump ball at center court
was required after each made basket!
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This
meant there was no such thing as a "fast-break" or
transition defense!
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It was legal for
a player dribble, pick up his dribble,
and then keep dribbling, as often as necessary,
actions which today would be considered a double-dribble
violation and result in a turnover!
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Double-dribbles were considered "self-passes" and
were legal, along with other forms of self-passing that were also
legal, such as tipping the ball overhead
while running down the court, or rolling
the ball along the floor and picking it up
again while running!
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Until the mid-1910s, it was illegal for a player to shoot the ball if that player had already dribbled; this meant passing was a critical element of the game and in fact every made field goal would have had an assist, using today's way of keeping statistics.
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There were as many
as twenty-five players on a team at first!
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In the early rules, when the basketball went out of bounds,
possession was awarded to the team that
got to it first, even if they had to scramble
down stairs, jump into the spectator seating area, or climb up into the balcony
to get it!
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Many early basketball games
were played in a wire mesh cage that surrounded the court in order to avoid the
mayhem and spectator injuries caused by players going after loose balls out of bounds!
- Early basketball players
were often called "cagers" because of this cage!
