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New York Times - Naismith's rules of basketball go to auction

Published: 26 October 2010

The original rules of basketball, typed out on two pages by Canadian-born phys-ed teacher James Naismith in 1891, are expected to sell for as much as $2 million U.S. at a December auction in New York.

The remarkable artifact, a tangible symbol of the birth of a sport that has become one of the world's most important pastimes, has been in the possession of the Naismith's family ever since the bespectacled doctor and educator from Almonte, Ont., invented the game in Springfield, Massachusetts, 119 years ago.

Naismith, born in the Ottawa-area village in 1861, was educated at McGill University before taking a job in the U.S. as a teacher at Springfield College.

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