From the December 11th Chicago Tribune.
That sure is a lot of money for two typed pieces of paper, but you could call it the birth certificate of basketball.
The document's 13 rules were written 119 years ago by James Naismith as a winter sport for YMCA boys to cover the time between football and baseball. It was sold at auction for $4.3 million by Sotheby's for the Naismith International Basketball Foundation. The proceeds will benefit the organization which promotes sportsmanship and provides services to underprivileged children around the world.
David and Suzanne Booth purchased it and hope to give it to the University of Kansas where he is an alumnus. Naismith penned the 13 rules on December 21, 1891 for the YMCA training school in Springfield, Massachusetts.
He gave the list to his secretary who typed it up on two pages which Naismith then pinned up on the bulletin board outside the gym.
In 1898, he moved to Lawrence, Kansas and became the first basketball coach at the University of Kansas. He remained in that position for nine years before performing other academic duties and athletic director.
Naismith died in 1939, three years after his sport became an official sport at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin.
So, It Comes Home. --Cooter
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