When Did Basketball Become a College Sport? | Sports and ...
There is not an exact date of when basketball started being seriously considered as a college sport, though history shows us the rise in school programs started only after the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics was formed. Of course this is known only for men?s basketball, and there was little collected data on woman?s teams or colleges. The first inter-institutional game for woman was played in 1891 and played by the University of California and Miss Heads? School. In 1892 a physical education teacher named Sendra Berenson adapted Naismith?s rules for woman?s basketball. That following year she organized the first collegiate game of basketball when two of her classes played against each other, some years later in 1896, one year prior to mens college basketball, the first all woman?s intercollegiate game was held when Stanford played Berkeley.
We know basketball was invented by a college physical education teacher, Dr. James Naismith, and that it was originally to help settle down the class who was stuck in because of the weather. However, the actual first game, or official game that was played by two separate colleges wasn?t until 1895, and this was between Hamline and the School of Agriculture, which was affiliated with the University of Minnesota. This was the first 5-on-5 game and the score was 9-3 and there were no incidents during the game. Prior to this game, skirmishes were typically between two teams within the school and would typically be 9-on-9 as Naismith had originally created.
Although there were basketball games prior to the Hamline vs. School of Agriculture played, this game is considered to be the first official basketball game for college basketball. After this game, in 1901 larger colleges, such as Columbia, and the U.S. Naval College, started sponsoring mens programs for basketball. A few years later the first National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, by 1910 they would be known as the NCAA or National Collegiate Athletics Association, was formed at the request of then U.S. President Roosevelt due to an alarming rate of football accidents, and even deaths. With the organization taking over, very little had changed for college basketball as it was not considered to be a particularly rough sport. If anything it brought more awareness to the sport and more colleges started introducing programs.
Source: http://www.lambodarsahu.com/when-did-basketball-become-a-college-sport/
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