1.
Basketball
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Basketball is a non-contact team sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of five players each. The objective is to shoot a ball through a hoop 18 inches in diameter and 10 feet high that is mounted to a backboard at each end of the court. The game was invented in 1891 by Dr. James Naismith, a team can score a field goal by shooting the ball through the basket being defended by the opposition team during regular play. A field goal scores three points for the team if the player shoots from behind the three-point line. A team can also score via free throws, which are worth one point, the team with the most points at the end of the game wins, but additional time is mandated when the score is tied at the end of regulation. The ball can be advanced on the court by passing it to a teammate and it is a violation to lift, or drag, ones pivot foot without dribbling the ball, to carry it, or to hold the ball with both hands then resume dribbling. The game has many techniques for displaying skill—ball-handling, shooting, passing, dribbling, dunking, shot-blocking. The point guard directs the on court action of the team, implementing the coachs game plan, Basketball is one of the worlds most popular and widely viewed sports. Outside North America, the top clubs from national leagues qualify to continental championships such as the Euroleague, the FIBA Basketball World Cup attracts the top national teams from around the world. Each continent hosts regional competitions for teams, like EuroBasket. The FIBA Womens Basketball World Cup features the top womens basketball teams from continental championships. The main North American league is the WNBA, whereas the EuroLeague Women has been dominated by teams from the Russian Womens Basketball Premier League, in early December 1891, Canadian Dr. He sought a vigorous indoor game to keep his students occupied, after rejecting other ideas as either too rough or poorly suited to walled-in gymnasiums, he wrote the basic rules and nailed a peach basket onto a 10-foot elevated track. Basketball was originally played with a soccer ball and these laces could cause bounce passes and dribbling to be unpredictable. Eventually a lace-free ball construction method was invented, and this change to the game was endorsed by Naismith, dribbling was not part of the original game except for the bounce pass to teammates. Passing the ball was the means of ball movement. Dribbling was eventually introduced but limited by the shape of early balls. Dribbling only became a part of the game around the 1950s
2.
Decatur, Alabama
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Decatur is a city in Morgan and Limestone counties in the State of Alabama. The city, affectionately known as The River City, is located in Northern Alabama on the banks of Wheeler Lake and it is the largest city and county seat of Morgan County. The population in 2010 census was 55,683, Decatur is also the core city of the two-county large Decatur, Alabama Metropolitan Area which had an estimated population of 153,374 in 2013. Combined with the Huntsville Metropolitan Area, the two create the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area, of which Decatur is the second largest city and this city is also known as the Dirty D. This town lit OML Like many southern cities in the early 19th century, Railroad routes and boating traffic pushed the city to the front of North Alabamas economic atmosphere. The city rapidly grew into an economic center within the Tennessee Valley and was a hub for travelers. Throughout the 20th century, the city experienced steady growth, but was eclipsed as the economic center by the fast-growing Huntsville during the space race. The city now finds its economy based on manufacturing, cargo transit, and hi-tech industries such as General Electric. The city was incorporated as Decatur in 1821 and it was named in honor of Stephen Decatur, after he was killed in a duel in 1820, President Monroe directed that the Alabama town be named for him. In the early 1830s, Decatur was the terminus of the Tuscumbia, Courtland and Decatur Railroad. In 1850 the Tuscumbia, Courtland and Decatur Railroad was incorporated into the Memphis & Charleston Railroad, because of its location on the Tennessee River at the strategically important crossing of two major railroads, Decatur was the site of several encounters during the American Civil War. When the Union army occupied the city early in the war, bricks from some of the churches in town were used to build stoves and chimneys for the buildings that housed soldiers. The four buildings that remained are the Old State Bank, the Dancy-Polk House, the Todd House, while the city was under Confederate control, plans for the Battle of Shiloh were mapped out within the Burleson-Hinds-McEntire House. These activities make the one of the most historic buildings in Decatur. New Decatur, Alabama was a city that rose out of the ashes of former Decatur west of the railroad tracks, New Decatur was founded in 1887 and incorporated in 1889. However, residents of the older Decatur resented the new town, animosity built until New Decatur renamed their town Albany, after Albany, N. Y. in September 1916. The impetus to meld the two came from the need for a bridge, instead of a ferry, across the Tennessee River. The Decatur Kiwanis Club was formed with an number of members from each town to organize efforts to get the state to build the bridge
3.
New York City
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The City of New York, often called New York City or simply New York, is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2015 population of 8,550,405 distributed over an area of about 302.6 square miles. Located at the tip of the state of New York. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy and has described as the cultural and financial capital of the world. Situated on one of the worlds largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, the five boroughs – Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx, and Staten Island – were consolidated into a single city in 1898. In 2013, the MSA produced a gross metropolitan product of nearly US$1.39 trillion, in 2012, the CSA generated a GMP of over US$1.55 trillion. NYCs MSA and CSA GDP are higher than all but 11 and 12 countries, New York City traces its origin to its 1624 founding in Lower Manhattan as a trading post by colonists of the Dutch Republic and was named New Amsterdam in 1626. The city and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, New York served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790. It has been the countrys largest city since 1790, the Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to the Americas by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is a symbol of the United States and its democracy. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. Several sources have ranked New York the most photographed city in the world, the names of many of the citys bridges, tapered skyscrapers, and parks are known around the world. Manhattans real estate market is among the most expensive in the world, Manhattans Chinatown incorporates the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere, with multiple signature Chinatowns developing across the city. Providing continuous 24/7 service, the New York City Subway is one of the most extensive metro systems worldwide, with 472 stations in operation. Over 120 colleges and universities are located in New York City, including Columbia University, New York University, and Rockefeller University, during the Wisconsinan glaciation, the New York City region was situated at the edge of a large ice sheet over 1,000 feet in depth. The ice sheet scraped away large amounts of soil, leaving the bedrock that serves as the foundation for much of New York City today. Later on, movement of the ice sheet would contribute to the separation of what are now Long Island and Staten Island. The first documented visit by a European was in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine explorer in the service of the French crown and he claimed the area for France and named it Nouvelle Angoulême. Heavy ice kept him from further exploration, and he returned to Spain in August and he proceeded to sail up what the Dutch would name the North River, named first by Hudson as the Mauritius after Maurice, Prince of Orange
4.
Clark Atlanta University
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Clark Atlanta University is a private, historically black university in Atlanta, in the U. S. state of Georgia. It was formed in 1988 with the consolidation of Clark College, Clark Atlanta University is a member of the United Negro College Fund and is the largest institution in the Atlanta University Center Consortium. By the late 1870s, Atlanta College had begun granting degrees and supplying black teachers. In 1929–30, it began offering graduate education exclusively in various liberal arts areas and it gradually added professional programs in social work, library science, and business administration. At this same time, Atlanta University affiliated with Morehouse College, the story of the Atlanta University over the next twenty years from 1930 includes many significant developments. Graduate Schools of Library Science, Education, and Business Administration were established in 1941,1944, the Atlanta School of Social Work, long associated with the university, gave up its charter in 1947 to become an integral part of the university. In 1957, the controlling Boards of the six institutions ratified new Articles of Affiliation, the new contract created the Atlanta University Center. The influence of Atlanta University has been extended through professional journals and organizations, including Phylon, du Bois, a member of the center. Clark College was founded in 1869 by the Methodist Episcopal Church and it was named for Bishop Davis Wasgatt Clark, who was the first President of the Freedmans Aid Society and became Bishop in 1864. A sparsely furnished room in Clark Chapel, a Methodist Episcopal church in Atlantas Summerhill section, in 1871, the school relocated to a new site on the newly purchased Whitehall and McDaniel Street property. In 1877, the School was chartered as Clark University, an early benefactor, Bishop Gilbert Haven, visualized Clark as the university of all the Methodist schools founded for the education of freedmen. Also in 1883, Clark established a theology department, named for Dr. Elijah H. Gammon, the Gammon School of Theology in 1888 became an independent theological seminary. It is part of the Interdenominational Theological Center, Clark Atlanta Universitys main campus houses 37 buildings on 126 acres and is 1.5 miles from the center of Atlanta. Pfeiffer Hall Holmes Hall Merner Hall Bumstead Hall – vacant for renovations Ware Hall Beckwith Hall Residential Apartments – now called James P. Brawley Hall when the original James P. The Isabella T. Clark Atlantas Center for Functional Nanoscale Measures has produced more black Ph. D. s in Nanoscale Science than any HBCU in the nation. Clark Atlanta is annually ranked on the list of The Washington Monthly of Best Colleges and Universities, Clark Atlanta has a Carnegie classification of Research University – High Research Activity and is one of only four Historically Black Colleges and Universities to earn such a distinction. The preeminent scheduled event of CAU Experience is the induction ceremony. At the ceremony, new students are officially inducted as Clark Atlanta University students
5.
National Basketball League (United States)
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The National Basketball League was a professional mens basketball league in the United States established in 1937. After the 1948–49 season, its twelfth, it merged with the Basketball Association of America to create the National Basketball Association, the predecessor of this league was the Midwest Basketball Conference in 1935. It changed its name in 1937 in an attempt to attract a larger audience, the league was created by three corporations, General Electric, Firestone and Goodyear. It was primarily made up of Great Lakes area small-market and corporate teams, scheduling was left to the discretion of each of the teams, as long as the team played at least ten games and four of them were on the road. Games played increased yearly as the popularity of basketball and the NBL grew in America. Games consisted either of four quarters or three fifteen-minute periods. The choice was made by the home team, some of the teams were independent, while others were owned by companies that also found jobs for their players. Chicago newspaper sports editor Leo Fischer acted as president of the NBL from 1940–44, in 1946, the Basketball Association of America incorporated resulting in a three-year battle with the NBL to win both players and fans. The BAA played its games in cities and venues. On August 3,1949, representatives from the 12-year-old NBL and 3 year old BAA met at the BAA offices in New Yorks Empire State Building to finalize a merger, maurice Podoloff was elected head of the new league. The new National Basketball Association was made up of 17 teams that both small towns and large cities across the country. Unlike the records and statistics of the rival BAA, NBL records and statistics are not considered valid in official NBA totals for records, the history of the NBL falls into three eras, each contributing significantly to the growth of professional basketball and the emergence of the NBA. The first dynasty centered on the Oshkosh All-Stars and their center Leroy Cowboy Edwards, the middle years saw the emergence of the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons, who were later instrumental in the survival of the NBA during its infancy. The final period of note during the NBLs existence centered on George Mikan, the Oshkosh All-Stars, who appeared in the championship series five consecutive years and won two titles, were led by rugged 64 center Leroy Cowboy Edwards. Edwards was a consensus NCAA All American and Helms Foundation College Player of the Year as a member of the 1934–35 University of Kentucky Wildcats. He left Kentucky after two years, only the one varsity season, to pursue a basketball career, which was unheard of at the time. He led the NBL in scoring three consecutive seasons, 1937–38 to 1939–40 and he set numerous NBL and professional basketball scoring records and is generally credited with the introduction of the 3 second rule in basketball which is still in existence today. Edwards played all 12 NBL seasons with the Oshkosh All-Stars and retired just prior to its merger with the BAA to form the NBA, the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons—so nicknamed because they were owned by Fred Zollner, whose company made pistons for engines—were led by tough veteran Bobby McDermott
6.
Harlem Globetrotters
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The Harlem Globetrotters are an exhibition basketball team that combines athleticism, theater, and comedy. Over the years they have played more than 26,000 exhibition games in 122 countries and territories, the teams signature song is Brother Boness whistled version of Sweet Georgia Brown. Their mascot is an anthropomorphized globe named Globie, the team plays over 450 live events worldwide each year. The team is owned by Herschend Family Entertainment. The executive offices for the team are located in suburban Atlanta, the Globetrotters originated in the south side of Chicago, Illinois, in the 1920s, where all the original players were raised. In 1928, several players left the team in a dispute and that autumn, several of the players, led by Tommy Brookins, formed a team called the Globe Trotters and toured Southern Illinois that spring. Abe Saperstein became involved with the team as its manager and promoter, by 1929, Saperstein was touring Illinois and Iowa with his basketball team called the New York Harlem Globe Trotters. In fact, the Globetrotters did not play in Harlem until 1968, the Globetrotters were perennial participants in the World Professional Basketball Tournament, winning it in 1940. In 1952, the Globetrotters invited Louis Red Klotz to create a team to them on their tours. This team, the Washington Generals, were the Globetrotters primary opponents up until 2015, the Generals were effectively stooges for the Globetrotters, with the Globetrotters handily defeating them in thousands of games. In 1959, the Globetrotters played nine games in Moscow after Saperstein received an invitation from Vasily Gricorevich, the team, which included Wilt Chamberlain, was welcomed enthusiastically by spectators and authorities, they met Premier Nikita Khrushchev and collectively received the Athletic Order of Lenin medal. However, according to one report, spectators were initially confused, A Soviet audience of 14,000 sat almost silently, as if in awe and it warmed up slightly in the second half when it realized the Trotters are more show than competition. The Globetrotters brought their own opponent—not the Washington Generals, but the San Francisco Chinese Basketeers, a review in Pravda stated, This is not basketball, it is too full of tricks but praised the Globetrotters skills and suggested that they have some techniques to show us. The American press—particularly Drew Pearson—made note of the fact that the Globetrotters were paid the equivalent of $4,000, which could be spent only in Moscow. The games were used as evidence that U. S. –Soviet relations were improving, that Moscow was backing off its criticism of race relations inside America, many famous basketball players have played for the Globetrotters. Greats such as Wee Willie Gardner, Connie The Hawk Hawkins, Wilt The Stilt Chamberlain, the Globetrotters signed their first female player, Olympic gold medalist Lynette Woodard, in 1985. The Globetrotters have featured 13 female players in their illustrious history, baseball Hall of Famers Ernie Banks, Bob Gibson, and Ferguson Jenkins also played for the team at one time or another. Because almost all of its players have been African American, and because of the involved in many of the Globetrotters skits
7.
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
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The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as the sports most complete library, in addition to promoting and preserving the history of basketball, dedicated to Canadian physician and inventor of the sport James Naismith, it was opened and inducted its first class in 1959. As of the induction of the Class of 2016 on September 9,2016, the Naismith Hall of Fame was established in 1959 by Lee Williams, a former athletic director at Colby College. In the 1960s, the Basketball Hall of Fame struggled to raise money for the construction of its first facility. The Basketball Hall of Fames Board named four inductees in its first year, in addition to honoring those who contributed to basketball, the Hall of Fame sought to make contributions of its own. In 1979, the Hall of Fame sponsored the Tip-Off Classic and this Tip-Off Classic has been the start to the college basketball season ever since, and although it does not always take place in Springfield, Massachusetts, generally it returns every few years. In the 17 years that the original Basketball Hall of Fame operated at Springfield College, the popularity of the Basketball Hall of Fame necessitated that a new facility be constructed, and in 1985, an $11 million facility was built beside the scenic Connecticut River in Springfield. As the new hall opened, it also recognized women for the first time, with such as Senda Berenson Abbott. In 2002, the Basketball Hall of Fame moved again—albeit merely 100 yards south along Springfields riverfront—into a $47 million facility designed by renowned architects Gwathmey Siegel & Associates, the buildings architecture features a metallic silver, basketball-shaped sphere flanked by two similarly symmetrical rhombuses. The dome is illuminated at night and features 80,000 square foot, including numerous restaurants, the second Basketball Hall of Fame was not torn down but rather converted into an LA Fitness health clubs. The current Basketball Hall of Fame features Center Court, a basketball court on which visitors can play. Inside the building there are a gallery, many interactive exhibits, several theaters. A large theater for ceremonies seats up to 300, the honorees inducted in 2002 included the Harlem Globetrotters and Magic Johnson, a five-time NBA champion, three-time NBA finals MVP and Olympic gold medalist. As of 2011, the current Basketball Hall of Fame has greatly exceeded attendance expectations, despite the new facilitys success, a logistical problem remains for the Basketball Hall of Fame and the City of Springfield. Urban planners at universities such as UMass Amherst have called for the I-91 to be moved, in 2010, the Urban Land Institute announced a plan to make the walk between Springfields Metro Center and the Hall of Fame easier. Since 2011, the induction process employs a total of seven committees to both screen and elect candidates, since 2011, the Veterans and International Committees also vote to directly induct one candidate for each induction class. Contributor Direct Election Committee Note that other committees may choose to elect contributors, for example, the 2014 class included two contributors. However, each screening committee is limited as to the number of candidates it can put forth to the Honors Committee—10 from the North American Committee, any individual receiving at least 18 affirmative votes from the Honors Committee is approved for induction into the Hall of Fame
