James Naismith National Historic Person of Canada, Almonte, Mississippi Mills, Ontario
Posted by: 
colincan
N 45° 14.720 W 076° 13.542
18T E 403809 N 5010935
James Naismith, a physical education instructor, doctor and Presbyterian minister, invented basketball which now has world wide appeal. He was born in the Almonte area where a museum and basketball hall of fame are dedicated to his memory.
Waymark Code: WMGPVE
Location: Ontario, Canada
Date Posted: 03/29/2013
Views: 5
Dr James Naismith (1861-1939) of Ramsay Township near Almonte, Ontario is the Canadian who invented basketball. The game is global in scope, playing second fiddle only to soccer. It is one of the big three professional sports in America, joined by football and baseball. Naismith devised the sport to facilitate indoor winter conditioning for athletes. It was as a response to student boredom with marching and apparatus work that he felt something innovative was required. At the time he was an instructor for the YMCA in Springfield, Mass. This is being written during March Madness, an annual event when America and beyond goes bonkers over college basketball. The first organized basketball game took place in 1891 and by 1894 basketball was being enjoyed already in China, India, France and other countries besides. Naismith was orphaned at the age of nine and as a result lived for a time with the local family of Robert Tait Mackenzie, a second person from the area now of national significance. Naismith studied then instructed physical education at McGill University followed by the YMCA as mentioned and the University of Kansas. He had a lifelong interest in sports injuries and their avoidance or treatment. He also qualified as a Presbyterian minister and advocated clean living. In 1936 basketball authorities paid his way to Berlin to witness the debut of basketball as an Olympic sport. In 1976 Dr Naismith was designated of national significance. In 1991 Jean Charest, former Premier of Quebec but then federal Minister of Sport, unveiled the HSMBC plaque at Naismith Memorial Public School. The plaque is now on the exterior wall of a private residence near Naismith's boyhood home. For a while the Naismith Museum and Hall of Fame was housed in this residence but now it operates out of the nearby Mill of Kintail. Had this been the United States there is little doubt that the museum would be known far and wide but here in Almonte its scale is modest.
Classification: National Historic Person
Province or Territory: Ontario
Location - City name/Town name: Almonte
Link to Parks Canada entry (must be on www.pc.gc.ca): [Web Link]
Link to HistoricPlaces.ca: Not listed
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