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Basketball inventor James A. Naismith, circa 1900. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Traveling: Original basketball rules to be displayed in Kansas City

Tom Hoepf
Tom Hoepf

Basketball inventor James A. Naismith, circa 1900. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Basketball inventor James A. Naismith, circa 1900. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – James A. Naismith’s original rules of basketball are going on display in Kansas City just in time for the NCAA tournament.

The rules were first thumbtacked to a gymnasium bulletin board in December 1891 at a Springfield, Mass., YMCA where Naismith had been instructed to come up with a new indoors activity for gym class. The Canadian-born Naismith utilized wooden peach baskets as goals.

Naismith moved to Lawrence, Kan., in 1898 and became the first basketball coach at the University of Kansas.

Kansas alum David Booth and his wife, Suzanne, bought the rules in December at a Sotheby’s auction for $4.3 million.

The rules will be on display at the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City from March 5 through May 29. There is no admission charge for the museum or the exhibit.

Copyright 2011. Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

AP-CS-02-24-11 0502EST