The late James Naismith, an accomplished educator/ physician/minister/philosopher, also was an inventor.An 1891 collegian, he took seriously the assignment to “invent” an indoor game to replace “thumb-twiddling” on dreary, cold, snowy days when youngsters ventured outdoors only to fetch firewood.He came up with “basketball,” a game he proposed to be “gentlemanly competition important to physical and spiritual development.” Peach baskets were nailed to walls on each end of the floor and a custodian with a ladder removed the ball when baskets were made. There were but 10 basic rules. When it became an Olympic sport in 1936, it had hundreds ...