How Basketball was Named

Frank Mahan’s presence in the game was felt immediately. Dr. James Naismith in his book, "Basketball Its Origin and Development," describes him on the December day in 1891 when the rules were first posted, as follows:

 “The first member of the class to arrive was Frank Mahan. He was a southerner from North Carolina, had played tackle on the football team, and was the ringleader of the group. He saw me standing with a ball in my hand and perhaps surmised that another experiment was to be tried. He looked up at the basket on one end of the gallery, and then his eyes turned to me. He gazed at me for an instant, and then looked toward the other end of the gym. Perhaps I was nervous because his exclamation sounded like a death knell as he said, Huh! Another new game!’”

The group that Dr. Naismith refers to Mahan as being the ringleader of was the "rambunctious" class of 18 young men that failed to find an activity that entertained them up to that point that winter. From the moment that Naismith tossed the first-ever jump ball between Mahan and T. Duncan Patton, the two centers, his trouble with the class ended. Mahan mostly played the position of the goaltender, and is described as one of the outstanding players in the article “First Organized Team in the History of Basketball Was Composed of Secretarial Men”, written in The Springfield Student in 1924.

Upon returning from Christmas vacation, Mahan approached Dr. Naismith about the game once more. He asked Dr. Naismith what he intended to name the game. Dr. Naismith admitted that he had only been focused on making the game, not naming it, but Mahan insisted it have a name. After Naismith rejected the name “Naismith ball”, saying that the name would kill the game before it got going, Mahan then said, “Why not call it basket ball?” Dr. Naismith responded to this saying, “We have a basket and a ball, and it seems to me that would be a good name for it.”

In Dr. Naismith’s book detailing the origins of the game, he details an encounter with Mahan in the weeks after the first game. Mahan walked into Dr. Naismith’s office before class one day and admitted to having taken the rules off the bulletin board because he knew the game would be a success. Mahan had originally wanted them as a souvenir, but after watching how popular the game was becoming, he wanted Dr. Naismith to have them. That afternoon, after class, Mahan returned the typewritten sheets to his instructor.

Needless to say, his good friend and former football teammate was extremely happy to have the rules back in his possession.

How Basketball was Named