Historical Sports Basketball

At the height of the Great Depression, Sam Babb, the charismatic basketball coach of tiny Oklahoma Presbyterian College, began dreaming. Like so many others, he wanted a reason to have hope. Traveling from farm to farm, he recruited talented, hardworking young women and offered them a chance at a better life: a free college education if they would come play for his basketball team, the Cardinals. Despite their fears of leaving home and the sacrifices faced by their families, the women followed Babb and his dream.

James Naismith was a man of many talents. He was a physician, an innovator, a Christian chaplain, a physical educator, and a coach. But he is best known for being the inventor of today’s most widely played sports game - the basketball. Listen about the man who invented basketball. Learn how the game changed the sports landscape, first in North America and the world.