Hoop Genius - Behind the Scenes

When I was a boy I loved hearing the story of James Naismith and the first basketball game. As a basketball player, I appreciated the connection to the original game and how far it had come. I wrote HOOP GENIUS: HOW A DESPERATE TEACHER AND A ROWDY GYM CLASS INVENTED BASKETBALL because many people don’t know this amazing story and I wanted to share it with them.

Historian John Dunn and Hoop Genius author John Coy

From first draft to finished book, the project took nine years, and the research was interesting. The more I learned about James Naismith and the first game, the more eager I was to share the story with others. I was fortunate that Naismith had written about the events leading up to that game so that I could read his own words of how the game developed.

In order to have a better understanding of Naismith’s early life, I made a trip to Almonte, Ontario, his boyhood home. John Gosset was very helpful in showing me the material that had been collected including the original stone where Naismith had played Duck on a Rock. He also introduced me to John Dunn, a local historian, who remembered James Naismith coming to talk to his high school class. To see the stone on which Naismith had played and to talk to someone who had met him was thrilling and provided a direct connection to the story. I also stayed in the house that Naismith used to stay in when he made trips back to Almonte. Gradually, the story began to take shape.

Original stone where Naismith played
Duck on a Rock with a photo of him
behind it

In addition, I made a number of trips to Springfield, Massachusetts, the site of the first game, and I received assistance from Jeffrey Monseau, the archivist at Springfield College and from the staff at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. The YMCA was the organization that was most responsible for the spread of basketball, and I benefited from the Naismith materials at the YMCA archives at the University of Minnesota and the assistance of Ryan Bean.

One of the things I ask people to think about is what game they would invent if someone gave them that task. It’s still incredible to me that James Naismith invented a game that became so popular he lived to see it played in the Olympics. James Naismith said, “I want to leave the world a little bit better than I found it.” He did that through his teaching, his life, and his invention of this game that millions of people love. Thank you James Naismith and that rowdy gym class for giving us this great gift.