The History of Basketball Basketball was a sport that was invented by Dr. Naismith to provide indoor exercise and competitions for the students between the end of the football season and the beginning of the baseball season. Basketball is the one sport whose exact origin is definitely known. The Springfield College gym class needed a new game to keep them busy. They tried many other games, exercises, and calisthenics to quench their desire to compete. Nothing worked for all new games were too rough. Dr. Naismith was hired to remedy the problem. He made many changes to the gym class including; no more calisthen¬ics. He just wanted to play a game that ev