There has been much debate about where the great game of basketball was actually created. NBA basketball stemmed from a Canadian physician in 1891 who worked in a college for young professionals. He was looking for a way to keep students active during the winter months. He came up with a sport that used two peach baskets with an attached sack, set ten feet off the ground and a soccer ball. The rules were somewhat similar to the current NBA basketball rules without the intricacies. At first the only bouncing of the ball came during passing (bounce pass) to other players. The first game was played on January 20, 1892 in a YMCA gym. There were 9 basketball players on each team and the court was half the size of a regulation NBA basketball court. A brown ball was designed to take the place of the soccer balls until the 1950's when a better bouncing orange ball was created. The introduction of the orange ball also created the dribbling rule. NBA basketball is now one of the most widely watched and played sports.
