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And as promised, here is the script from my video:
Mr. Beat here. Basketball is one of my favorite sports. (throw up ball) (lands in clone’s hand as he makes the layup) Clone: Kobe! Mr. Beat: Bucket! (turning) Hundreds of millions of human beings play this sport (turning) BILLIONS watch it (turning) And yes, it brings in BILLIONS of dollars each year (turning) Heck, the highest paid athletes in the world are basketball players The National Basketball Association, or NBA, which is the top professional basketball league in the world (turning) made $11.3 billion alone last year. That’s just one league. $11.3 billion dollars. A billion is a thousand million. And they made 11.3 of those thousand millions. Holy moly. You can find basketball fans in every country Depending on how you look at it, it may be the third-most-popular or even SECOND-most-popular sport in the world. And yet, it didn’t even exist 135 years ago. And it began as just something to keep the kids busy indoors when it was too cold to go outside. Here’s the story of how basketball went from a weird gym class experiment to a global phenomenon, baby. (turn to look at clone) Clone: Kobe! Mr. Beat: Bucket! If you were alive in the 2020s like I was, you’d know that inflation has been bad, and since everything gets more expensive every year, I’m constantly trying to find new ways to save money and optimize my spending. And one way I’ve done that throughout the 2020s? Rocket Money, which is a sponsor of this video. And yes, I’ve literally been using Rocket Money this entire decade. It’s helped me track my spending and categorize transactions to see exactly where my money is going. I love using it to cancel unwanted subscriptions. Rocket Money will automatically scan your bills to find savings. In fact, Rocket Money has helped its customers save up to $740 a year when you use all of the app’s premium features. Rocket Money is free to download, but you can get a free premium trial when you sign up with my link. Go to Rocket Money dot com slash mrbeat or scan the QR code on the screen right now! Woahness! I’ll also include the link in my description. Thanks to Rocket Money for sponsoring this video. -The Shocking History of Basketball- Other than volleyball (which also started at a YMCA), basketball may just be the only major sport in world history that can definitively trace its origin to a single person. (turning) And who was that person? This guy. Dr. James Naismith. Hey, you want one of those fun facts? The guy who invented basketball spent most of his life in my home town and is buried here. In the fall of 1891, Naismith was an instructor at the (sing) YMCA school…seriously, the Young Men’s Christian Association Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts. It’s now called Springfield College. Anyway, Naismith’s PE students were bored. Stuck inside due to the cold and nasty weather outside, Naismith had tried to keep them active by doing gymnastics or calisthenics. But that wasn’t any fun to the students. They wanted something more competitive…something they could play with a team. And so, Naismith’s boss, a dude named Luther Glick, said Naismith should invent a new game that
And so he did. Naismith came to class one day in December 1891 with rules for a brand new game and taught them how to play. He nailed up two peach baskets on opposite ends of the gym balcony, grabbed a soccer ball, and split his class of 18 into two teams of nine. Even though the peach baskets were RANDOMLY about 10 feet (3 meters) off the ground because that’s how high the balcony was, TO THIS DAY nearly all official basketball hoops are 10 feet off the ground. Well, not this one. Yeah usually they let kids play on shorter hoops. Like myself. They had to pass the ball around and couldn’t run with the ball. And then, once they got near a peach basket, they had to throw or bounce the ball into the basket. Every time a team got a ball in the basket, it was a goal. The team with the most goals won the game. Naismith’s students weren’t enthusiastic. “Huh, another new game,” one said.^1 Soon Naismith typed out 13 rules for his new game and tacked them up on a bulletin board.
December 21, 1891- according to multiple sources, that was the date of the first-ever game of basketball. The final score of that game? 1 to 0. And that single point came when William Chase made a shot from about 25 feet away. Yep, we also know the first person to ever score a basket. Now, of course…someone had to climb up and RETRIEVE the ball from the peach basket after Chase made that shot. No holes in the bottom yet. That came later. Well, the boys loved this new game, and so did the YMCA…so much that it spread the word about it to other YMCA schools in the region. And the game wasn’t just for the boys. After reading about Naismith’s new game, a woman named Senda Berenson introduced it to her female students. Since she didn’t have peach baskets, Berenson used waste baskets for the girls to shoot in. The first recorded women’s basketball game took place on March 22, 1893. The players all wore bloomers, and no men were allowed to watch. Now, the game wasn’t called “basketball” right away. When Naismith decided to publish the new game’s rules in a local newspaper, he realized it didn’t have an official name yet. Some of his students suggested he should name it after himself: “Naismith Ball.” Instead, he went with the name “basketball”…since…ya know…the goal was to get the ball in the basket? Clone: Kobe! Mr. Beat: Make it rain! Next thing ya know, Naismith’s game was being played at YMCAs around the country. They even added holes to the bottom of the baskets. Still, compared to today, those early games were pretty chill and slow-paced. And BECAUSE the YMCA was a worldwide organization, basketball quickly became a worldwide sport, too. In less than two years, it had reached France, China, and India. The first known game between two teams representing college teams went down on February 9, 1895. Minnesota A&M, a college which later became part of the University of Minnesota beat Hamline University 9-3. Then again, that was when basketball was still played under the rules that allowed nine players to play on one team at a time. With the help of folks like Lambert Will, the rules evolved quite a bit in those early years. So these rules are outdated. Well crap! The first known game between two college teams in which players each had five players playing at a time went down on January 18, 1896 between the University of Chicago and University of Iowa. The first known “professional” basketball game...which means the players were basically actually getting paid to play…took place on November 7, 1896 in Trenton, New Jersey. The players each earned the equivalent of around $578 in today’s money for participating in the game.^2 Around that time, James Naismith took a job here, at the University of Kansas. Oh the job had nothing to do with basketball. The University hired Naismith to be a chapel director/P.E. teacher, duh. They paid him the equivalent of just over $50,000 a year in today’s money. (looking over) Cheapskates. Around the time Naismith first arrived at the university, which is in Lawrence, Kansas by the way…basketball was considered a sissy game…not even considered a real “sport” yet. But that didn’t stop Naismith from teaching his new P.E. students how to play. And wouldn’t ya know it, they ALSO loved it. Soon enough, Naismith started a campus league and then the university let him pick the league’s best players to form the school’s first official team in 1898. They mainly just played YMCA teams. Naismith would often step in as the referee during these games. But then the University was like, “uh hey James Naismith, would you like to, like totally, COACH, these guys?!?” And James was like, “Coach? These guys don’t need to be coached.” And soon enough, Naismith indeed became the University of Kansas basketball team’s first official coach. And here’s a crazy fact for you- Naismith was the only University of Kansas basketball coach in history to retire with a losing record. Let me rephrase that. The only person to coach Kansas basketball to ever have a losing record over his career was the guy WHO LITERALLY INVENTED THE SPORT. One of Naismith’s players, though, went on to become one of the greatest basketball coaches of all time. In fact, he’d take Naismith’s job and then go on to win three national championships and 24 conference championships over 39 seasons. That man’s name was Forrest. (turn) No, not Forrest Gump. Forrest Allen…aka “Phog Allen.” Yep, that’s a statue of him. And today, the University of Kansas basketball team plays in this historic arena behind me…Allen Fieldhouse…yep…named after Phog Allen. It’s a special place, for sure, even if you’re not a KU basketball fan. It's the loudest college basketball arena in the country. The playing surface is named “James Naismith Court,” of course. Oh, and guess what that street’s called? (pointing) Naismith Drive. Very good. Extra credit for you. Phog Allen would go on to coach players who later became Hall of Fame coaches themselves. Ok, enough about KU. Do realize I only brought a lot of this stuff because I’m biased. I went to the University of Kansas and have cheered on my Jayhawks MANY times in Allen Fieldhouse. Anyway, over the following years, the rules of the game continued to change. For example, for many years, basketball was played in cages and there was no out of bounds. In 1906, organizers began replacing wooden baskets with metal hoops and nets, like THIS, which you’re probably more familiar with. By that time, many African Americans had begun playing the sport, but leagues would remain racially segregated for decades afterward. The first independently organized black basketball team was the Smart Set Athletic Club of Brooklyn, New York. Smart Set Athletic Club…yeah that should totally also be a band name. Also by that time? Many realized they could make serious money off the game, and professional leagues popped up. Many came and went. The first ones were regional, with many cities having multiple teams. During World War One, the sport got introduced to A LOT more people as soldiers would play it during down time. In 1926, a team popped in the South Side of Chicago that called themselves the Harlem Globetrotters. They started out as a serious competitive team before evolving into entertainers, and today have fully turned the sport into an art form. The most famous professional team of the 1920s, though, was the Original Celtics…not to be confused with today’s Boston Celtics. Nah man, the Original Celtics were based in New York and even played at Madison Square Garden. Take that, Knicks. But yeah, the Original Celtics captured the attention of millions of Americans as they dominated nearly every game they played. In 1936, another notable team arrived on the scene. The All-American Red Heads. Yeah, that was really their name. The All-American Red Heads were the first professional women’s basketball team. But they played by men’s rules and played AGAINST men’s teams. They toured the country in a limousine at one point, and apparently really dyed their hair red…unless it was naturally that color already. Jump ahead to 1946, and a group of arena owners created the Basketball Association of America, hoping to fill their arenas during hockey’s off-season. Three years later, the league merged with its rival, the National Basketball League, to form the aforementioned National Basketball Association, or NBA. The first NBA game went down on November 1, 1946 between the Toronto Huskies and the New York Knickerbockers, a team that still exists that I mentioned earlier that we now just call the Knicks. Because syllables are difficult. I mean, hard. Back then, games were slow-paced and still low-scoring. There was no shot clock, so teams could just play keep away from their opponent or just dribble the clock down endlessly. That all changed in 1954 when the 24-second shot clock was introduced… Mr. Beat: At the buzzer…3, 2, 1, (passes) Clone: Kobe! Mr. Beat: Bucket! Forcing faster play and revolutionizing the game. The 1950s also saw the NBA integrate. Folks like Earl Lloyd, Chuck Cooper, and Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton became the first African Americans to play in the NBA. Then came Bill Russell, who joined the Boston Celtics in 1956 and then promptly led them to 11 championships in 13 seasons. No big deal. And don’t forget Wilt Chamberlain, who yep, played basketball here at the University of Kansas. There I go on about KU again. He went on to the NBA to dominate, at one point averaging 50 points a game. To this date, Chamberlain is the only professional basketball player in history to score 100 points in a single game. Holy crap. I forgot about that. Yeah, he scored 100 points as his team, the Philadelphia Warriors, beat the Knicks 160-146 on March 2, 1962. At the time, college basketball was still just as popular if not more popular as the NBA, and just 4,124 people witnessed it. The game wasn’t even televised.^3 Then again, Wilt Chamberlain had quite the advantage over the other players. He was 7-foot-1. More and more, folks were realizing that if you had the height…AND…if you could jump high…you automatically had an advantage in this sport. That’s right, I called it a “sport.” By the 1960s it was definitely a sport. In the decades since, the players have gotten consistently taller and taller and taller. But hey, don’t forget about the ABA! In 1967, an exciting new league called the American Basketball Association, or ABA, started that brought in new ideas like the three-point line, (Kobe! Shoot three) the slam dunk contest (Slam dunk! Try to slam dunk) the full court press, and the shootaround before the game. The ABA was louder, faster, and frankly more entertaining…and it gave us future legends like Julius Erving, aka Dr. J. By 1976, the ABA and NBA had merged, and indeed, the NBA absorbed the ABA’s flair. After the NBA introduced the three-point-line in 1979, teams began to completely change how they ran their offenses. In 1979, teams averaged fewer than 3 three-point attempts per game. By the mid-2010s, teams averaged around 32 three-point attempts per game. (wearing yellow Afro) But let’s go back to the 1970s for a moment. This might surprise you, but around the time the NBA introduced the 3-point line, the league was struggling with poor ratings and a bad public image. And then came Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, baby. Their rivalry began in college and got reignited in the pros. Bird’s Celtics and Magic’s Lakers dominated combining amazing star power and teamwork on the court and mad rizz off the court. And then came Michael Jordan. (clips) When Jordan entered the league in 1984, he took everything to another level - athleticism, competitiveness, marketing, and style. Even shorts got longer after him. Jordan’s six championships with the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s, along with the “Dream Team” of American superstars competing at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, made the NBA a global brand. Now more than ever, kids around the world were picking up basketballs and playing wherever they could. After all, you didn’t need money to play the game- there were no barriers to entry. Professional leagues popped up in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Players like Dirk Nowitzki and Yao Ming showed the world could produce stars, too. Today, the NBA features a record number of international players and some of the best players to ever play the game…players like Nikola Jokić, Luka Dončić, and Giannis Antetokounmpo….ok I just call him Giannis were all born outside the United States. Today, basketball is played in pretty much every country in the world and watched by BILLIONS. And the game continues to evolve. Players like LeBron James are now billionaires and have saved the economies of entire cities. Players like Steph Curry have made the three-point shot more important than ever. There’s also the WNBA, the most prominent women’s professional league in the world, was the fastest-growing brand in professional sports last year.^4 And new forms of basketball, like 3X3, are now Olympic events. From a small gym in Springfield, Massachusetts to the streets of Manila, from neighborhood parks to billion-dollar arenas- basketball’s 134-year story is one of constant innovation and global connection. What started as a simple game to keep some students busy in the the winter became a world wide language- one that unites people of a diverse range of cultures and ethnicities. And all it took…was a ball, two baskets, and a Canadian. (shoot backward) What about YOU, punks? Do YOU play basketball? Do you WATCH basketball? Do you SMELL basketballs? Well if you do that…that’s a little weird. Uh…who’s your favorite basketball player of all time? And I realized most of my regular viewers don’t care about basketball, but that’s what I do. I alienate my audience. Hey, but thanks for staying curious anyway! _________________________________________________ ^1.https://books.google.com/booksid=t55KEAAAQBAJ&dq=AIELLO+Hoops&pg=PR7#v=onepage&q=AIELLO%20Hoops&f=false ^2. https://www.hmdb.org/PhotoFullSize.asp?PhotoID=10505 ^3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilt_Chamberlain%27s_100-point_game ^4. https://www.forbes.com/sites/susanmshaw/2025/02/04/the-wnba-was-the-fastest-growing-brand-in-professional-sports-in-2024/ Sources/further reading: The Undisputed Guide to Pro Basketball History by Bethlehem Shoals and Jacob Weinstein Purchase here: https://amzn.to/4o3OmTr Hoops: A Cultural History of Basketball in America by Thomas Aiello Purchase here :https://amzn.to/4ot0zRq Basketball: Its Origin and Development by James Naismith Purchase here: https://amzn.to/43wvcxp James Naismith: The Man Who Invented Basketball by Rob Rains Purchase here: https://amzn.to/4o34epj https://about.fiba.basketball/en/news/fiba-celebrates-more-than-610-million-players-globally-on-second-edition-of-wbd https://www.topendsports.com/world/lists/earnings/athletes-paid-sports.htm https://www.sportsvalue.com.br/en/nba-teams-surpassed-us-11-3-billion-in-revenue-in-2024-total-valuation-reached-us-132-8-billion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_basketball https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09523369508713887 https://www.britannica.com/story/why-are-basketball-hoops-10-feet-high https://vault.si.com/vault/1991/11/11/when-the-court-was-a-cage-in-the-early-days-of-pro-basketball-the-players-were-segregated-from-the-fans https://www.wbur.org/onlyagame/2015/12/19/james-naismith-basketball-audio-springfield Creative commons credits: TonytheTiger Sandro Halank
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