Very First Intercollegiate 5 on 5 Basketball Game. Who Knew?

[MelroseHawkins]

The greatest level of early basketball activity outside of YMCAs was seen in American colleges. The first known U.S. college to field a basketball team against an outside opponent was Vanderbilt University, which played against the local YMCA in Nashville, Tennessee, on February 7, 1893.[SUP][20][/SUP] The second recorded instance of an organized college basketball game was Geneva College's game against the New Brighton YMCA on April 8, 1893, in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, which Geneva won 3–0.[SUP][20][/SUP]The first recorded game between two college teams occurred on February 9, 1895, when Hamline University faced Minnesota A&M (which later became a part of the University of Minnesota).[SUP][20][/SUP][SUP][21][/SUP] Minnesota A&M won the game, which was played under rules allowing nine players per side, 9–3.[SUP][21][/SUP] The first intercollegiate match using the modern rule of five players per side is often credited as a game between the University of Chicago and the University of Iowa, in Iowa City, Iowa, on January 18, 1896.[SUP][20][/SUP][SUP][22][/SUP] The Chicago team, which was organized by Amos Alonzo Stagg, who had learned the game from James Naismith at the Springfield YMCA, won the game 15–12.[SUP][21][/SUP][SUP][22][/SUP] (Some sources state the first "true" five-on-five intercollegiate match was a game in 1897 between Yale andPenn, because the Iowa team, that played Chicago in 1896, was composed of University of Iowa students, but did not officially represent the University of Iowa – rather being organized through a YMCA.)[SUP][21][/SUP] By 1900 the game of basketball had spread to colleges across the country .
By 1897, the U.S. Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) had taken over oversight of basketball activity from the YMCA.[SUP][21][/SUP] In April 1905, representatives of fifteen colleges separately took over control of the college game, creating the collegiate "Basket Ball Rule Committee."[SUP][21][/SUP] The Committee was in turn absorbed into the predecessor of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in 1909.[SUP][21][/SUP] The extremely popular NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament was started in 1939.

 

[bcl20]

I learned this in a sports illustrated for kids because i rule

 

[atomicblue224]

I love history, I love to read anything about history.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

I wasn't expecting to see Iowa mentioned and just surprised me that they were involved in the first organized 5 on 5 game.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

Did you know that Ronald Reagan announced Iowa play-by-play I think back in the late 1930's? I didn't know that either. Heard it on the radio (600) on the way in to work.

 

[ClintonIAfan]

Yes, the YMCA teams played at the newly constructed Close Hall at that time. There are photos out there with the peach basket hanging on the balcony wall. They were first organized with the University in 1902 with Ed Rule as head coach.

The problem was that the court wad just too small. The distance between the baskets was not nearly what now is regulation. Not to mention almost no space for spectators.

So in 1905 the team moved to the "old" armory. Alden Knipe was actually one of the biggest backers of the project because the football team would also use the locker rooms. The armory aldo had a full length basketball court and room for approximately 500 spectators.