Imagine being put in charge of a rowdy gym class just before winter break after two previous teachers quit due to the students’ behavior. This is what happened to James Naismith as a young teacher. Nobody else was willing to teach the class. Realizing that the students were bored with the exercises they had been doing over and over and over again, he decided to look for something fun for them to play. The catch was that it had to be an indoor game because it was December in Massachusetts. Desperate to keep his class happy and safe, he wound up inventing a brand new game – basketball. His students enjoyed the game so much, they taught their new game to family and friends over break and basketball took off from there.
