This lot is closed. Bidding ended on 9/9/2007.
James Naismith is best known as the inventor of the sport of basketball, and his name adorns the world's only Basketball Hall of Fame. It all started with two peach baskets affixed to a 10-foot-high railing and a soccer ball in a Massachusetts YMCA. The first formal rules were devised in 1892. Initially, players dribbled a soccer ball up and down a court of unspecified dimensions, and points were earned by landing the ball in a peach basket. Iron hoops and a hammock-style basket were introduced in 1893. Another decade passed, however, before the innovation of open-ended nets put an end to the practice of manually retrieving the ball from the basket each time a goal was scored. From the Naismith family archives come these six letters handwritten by Naismith, with two original envelopes. Dating from the 1910s-1930s and signed "Jim," the letters are from Naismith to his family, including his wife Maude. Content predominantly concerns the family and their well being as well as Naismith's many trips and his service in the military; of note is a letter dated August 10, 1918, on "American YMCA, On Active Service With The American Expeditionary Force" letterhead. The letters are in overall VG-EX to EX condition, with the writing and signatures averaging a grade of 7 to 8. Accompanied by a LOA from James Spence Authentication.