TLS, one page, 8.5 x 11, University of Kansas letterhead, November 24, 1930. Letter to the Director of Physical Education at Vassar College inquiring about the beginnings of the basketball program there. In part: “In preparing a history of Basketball, I find that so far as my records go, the first college to play the game was either Iowa University or Geneva College. Each of these schools claim to have played it soon after the rules were first published. Smith’s College played an intramural game in the spring of 1894. Bryn Mawr is credited with playing it as an intramural game even before that time. Stanford and the University of California played an intercollegiate game in the years of 1896. I believe this is the first.” Naismith then lists five questions regarding Vassar’s basketball program, four of which have been filled in by the letter’s recipient. In fine condition. Accompanied by a letter of authenticity from Naismith’s granddaughter, Helen Carpenter.
The game of basketball was the brainchild of one man—Dr. James Naismith—with this page presenting interesting first-person insight from the man who knew the rules better than anyone else. In 1891, Naismith was studying at Springfield College in Massachusetts when an instructor asked him to develop an indoor activity to act as an alternative to calisthenics. That game was basketball. Although he was wholly responsible for its invention, Naismith never sought to capitalize on its success, witnessed by his simple, straightforward responses here.
Regardless, the memories here are fascinating, as the game’s inventor comments on some of the earliest games. If Naismith’s recollections are correct, the University of Iowa game took place on January 18, 1896, against the University of Chicago, with Chicago winning 15-12. The first women’s intramural basketball game is recorded as taking place on March 21, 1893, at Smith College in Northhampton, Massachusetts, with the first women’s basketball game played there a year earlier. Pre-certified Steve Grad/PSA/DNA and RRAuction COA.
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