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(PHOTO COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS)

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MONTREAL -- The 108th anniversary of the first Canadian university basketball game played in Canada will be celebrated on Feb. 6, 2012.

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The first organized intercollegiate hoops contest was played in Kingston, Ont., between ÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹û and Queen’s on Feb. 6, 1904. ÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹û defeated the Golden Gaels 9-7 in overtime.

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A brief newspaper account of the first hoops game was published in the Queen's University Journal (Vol. 31, No. 7) on Feb. 16, 1904 as follows:

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"The first of the Canadian Intercollegiate basket-ball matches was played on Saturday between ÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹û and Queen's. It is to be hoped that this will become a permanent feature, for the more we brush up against our sister Colleges the more we will sympathize with each other."

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"An inter-collegiate basket-ball match, between Queen's and ÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹û, was played in the YMCA gymnasium on Saturday, February 6th. ÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹û won out by the score of 9 to 7. There was a good attendance of spectators, as the game is quite popular among the students. The match was a good exhibition and was keenly contested. At half-time the score was 4 to 3, in favor of ÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹û. In the second half Queen's played up and managed to tie the score. At full time the result was 7 to 7. After 10 minutes extra play ÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹û scored the winning goal. For Queen's Warren did the most effective work, while A. Ross was the most conspicuous on the ÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹û team."

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That first ÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹û team, guided by coach C.B. Powter and team manager Mr. McKergow, was composed of B.H. Higgins, O.B. Keddy, A. Ross, C.W. Oliver, F. Shenkle and team captain Daniel Ross.

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Basketball was invented James Naismith, a former football, soccer and gymnastics star at ÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹û, on Dec. 21, 1891. An inaugural inductee to the ÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹û Sports Hall of Fame in 1996, Naismith graduated from ÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹û among the top 10 in his class with a B.A. Honours in 1887.

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Only 160 pounds, legends quickly grew about his strength and agility. As a sophomore in 1884-85, he volunteered to play centre in practice one day for an injured rugby-football player. Despite having never played the sport, he became an instant starter and did not miss a game over the next three years. In 1885-86 he won the Wicksteed silver medal as the junior class’s gymnastics champion at ÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹û. In his graduating year, he won the Wicksteed gold medal as the athletics champion of the senior class.

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He later taught physical education and became ÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹û's first fulltime instructor of athletics before accepting a position at the YMCA College in Springfield, Mass., where he devised the rules to basketball in 1891.

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Naismith was a Presbyterian minister, a medical doctor, a physical educator and received 11 academic degrees. "He had a remarkable career — a career the likes of which probably no other Canadian ever has had," said former classmate Rev. W.D. Reid in 1939.

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A native of Ramsay Township near Almonte, Ont., Naismith was born on Nov. 16, 1861 and died in Lawrence, Kansas on Nov. 28, 1939.


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SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman, Communications Officer, ÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹û Athletics (514) 398-7012