Barnstorming: Roots of the NBA I. Introduction: Early November and Baseball is Done–Ice is Forming After Naismith, hoops embarked on a crusade of escalating and varying pro and amateur leagues. The hoop movement began in the Northeast and spread like wildfire throughout the United States. A game that began to keep a group of young men at bay turned into a real winner. Basketball became as addictive as Euchre is within the state of Wisconsin. Fans began to pay to watch schools and early pro teams. The magical rules of the game began to unfold with no national or international organizing body overruling. Medicine and soccer balls were rapidly phased out, and balls one could dribble entered the game.
were a century ago. Hoops became the sandwich sport between football and baseball. How perfect was the new game which had precipitated few injuries; was very inexpensive to support; and had enough scoring to maintain consistent fan interest. Modern basketball had arrived onto the United States sports scene and would never leave. It’s now considered the international game having morphed from the barnstorming TEAMS of the early and mid 20th Century.
Basketball became a pure sport of athleticism, coordination, teamwork, speed, endurance and coaching prowess. Offense, defense and transition began to unfold– though it would be a few years before John Wooden’s esteemed fast break offense was accepted. Rapidly the Early improved basketball game became a superb athletic showmanship of scoring. Early sharpshooters were faced with varying basket heights, ball pressures and sizes, rules and gymnasium sizes. Despite all the variations amongst leagues, fans came to watch prolific scorers with a soft touch. Many fans willing to pay were turned away after “standing room only” was reached. What else is there to do in Red Wing, Minnesota when the temperature is 35 below? Any true sports fan has the common sense to go to the local pro barnstorming basketball game.
Shooting touch became a true art within basketball. One either had “game” or you did not. Half the shots were banked off metal, wood, or glass (early 1900s Indiana glass backboard emergence). Many leagues had open baskets with no backboard–in large part eliminating the rebounding and tip in advantages presented with a backboard present. If you couldn’t drain, swish or bank a shot in, you were not worthy of being on the court–forget being a #2 shooting guard. Shooters emerged from all arenas. Specialization with rebounders, passers, and shooters hadn’t yet evolved. There were no “Mikans” walking around specializing in rebounding and post moves. All players had similar predictable skill sets: dribbling, set shot, layup, passing–the total game.
Fan interest in basketball blossomed. If it was a date, then it was two in attendance. Helicopter parents tripled the tally. A double date again doubled those numbers, and soon you had a full armory. This was a substantial family and social event also, with meals before and after games, discourse during halftime, and a real positive place to meet and enjoy the people of the community. Essentially the entire town attended. It was socially unacceptable to not be at these competitive early barnstorming basketball games. This truly was how things
The feelings amongst a TEAM held that players and fans watching and listening to a swish sound was beyond description. During the earliest basketball times the familiar warm sound was the wood clang at the bottom of a peach or wired bushel basket. Sports were a departure from an assembly line within a factory. Basketball print slowly migrated from the last page in sports sections to the middle, and then rapidly to the front pages. Basketball was a game for all, everywhere and at anytime–unlike hockey which required cold weather and
An early National Basketball League team