The Ball

by John Fox

  257 As early as 1894: Guttmann, Sports, p. 145.

  257 The purpose of the rules that emerged: “The New Game of Football,” New York Times, Sept. 30, 1906.

  258 Passes could only be thrown from five yards: Bernstein, Football: The Ivy League Origins of an American Obsession, p. 85.

  259 Amos Alonzo Stagg claimed: Allison Danzig, The History of American Football, p. 37.

  259 “It shall be tightly inflated”: Oriard, King Football, p. 132.

  259 “throwing laterals is an attempt”: Ibid., p. 331.

  260 “In the past it was a style of ball”: Ben McGrath, “Does Football Have a Future?,” p. 47.

  260 According to Timothy Gay: “Football Physics: Anatomy of a Hit,” Popular Mechanics, Dec. 18, 2009.

  262 at a turning point in the safety debate: “Game Changers,” Bostonia, Fall 2010.

  263 “lay a pillow down”: New York Times, February 3, 2011.

  264 “competing desires for danger and safety”: Oriard, King Football, p. 335.

  264 perhaps even its “special glory”: Guttmann, From Ritual to Record, p. 118.

  8: Nothing New Under the Sun

  267 “When it’s played the way”: John Edgar Wideman, “Michael Jordan Leaps the Great Divide,” Esquire, Nov. 1990.

  268 Naismith felt their pain: Unless otherwise indicated, all quotes from James Naismith are from his book, Basketball: Its Origin and Development.

  269 “a competitive game, like football”: Rob Rains, James Naismith, p. 32.

  272 “The fewer players down to three”: James Naismith, The Triangle, Jan. 15, 1892.

  274 The first players to “post up”: Robert W. Peterson, Cages to Jump Shots, p. 41.

  274 “The ball was four pieces of leather”: Ibid., p. 49.

  276 “the game must remain”: Ibid., p. 37.

  281 “People see [the Square]” and other Aaron Williams quotes: The Republican, July 18, 2010.

  283 “all that I know most surely”: Mandelbaum, The Meaning of Sports, p. 210.

  284 “These young guys were staying”: Phone interview with Harry Rock, director of YMCA Relations, Springfield College, May 11, 2011.

  285 “To win men for the Master”: James Naismith, from his original application to the YMCA Training School, Springfield College Archives.

  286 “Many business men at forty are fat and flabby”: YMCA source materials provided by Harry Rock.

  290 “Ruck,” as he was known: Nelson George, Elevating the Game, pp. 72–78.

  301 “cleared the lane”: Ron Thomas, They Cleared the Lane.

  302 “She was smart and attractive”: Ralph Melnick, Senda Berenson, p. 33.

  302 “Many of our young women”: Pamela Grundy and Susan Shackleford, Shattering the Glass, p. 10.

  303 the idea that girls and women could withstand: Grundy and Shackleford.

  304 “the so-called ideal woman”: Melnick, p. 23.

  304 “Now that the woman’s sphere”: Senda Berenson, “The Significance of Basket Ball for Women.”

  304 she posted a note on the outer door: Melnick, p. 1

  306 Early teams captured this feeling: Grundy and Shackleford, p. 19.

  307 “Gentlemen, if you attempt to do away”: Ibid., p. 47.

  307 The SPHAs . . . got their start: Peterson, Cages to Jump Shots.

  309 “Everywhere you looked, all you saw was concrete”: Mandelbaum, The Meaning of Sports, p. 241.

  309 New York Renaissance Big Five: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, On the Shoulders of Giants, pp. 137–176.

  310 During those Jim Crow days: Peterson, Cages to Jump Shots, p. 96.

  311 Douglas later estimated: Thomas, They Cleared the Lane, p. 9.

  311 “slept in jails because they wouldn’t put us up”: Abdul-Jabbar, p. 162.

  311 When their manager protested an unfair call: Ibid., p. 160.

  312 The two all-black barnstorming teams: Abdul-Jabbar.

  313 “Naismith believed you can do”: George, Elevating the Game, p. 86.

  316 In his recorded remarks, President Obama: “Obama Hosts Dinner for Islamic Holy Month,” Associated Press, Sept. 2, 2009.

  Epilogue: Back to Basics

  323 United is, after all: “More than Manchester,” Time, May 28, 2011.

  326 I knew several Amazonian tribes had once played games: Theodore Stern, The Rubber-Ball Games of the Americas, pp. 8–9.

  327 and two soccer balls: www.lossoberanos.com/evidencia.

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  Illustration Credits

  25 Courtesy of John Fox.

  38 Athenian Black-figure Lekythos, AN1890.27. Courtesy of the Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford, UK.

  40 Tuthmosis III playing ball, Temple of Hatshepsut, Deir e-Bahri. Courtesy of Wolfgang Decker.

  62 “La Soule en Basse Normandie,” M.J.L. de Condé, published February 28, 1852, in weekly magazine L’Illustration.

  66 “Throw Up of the Ba’, New Year’s Day, 2010.” Courtesy of Joe Fox.

  70 The Kirkwall Ba’. Wikimedia Commons.

  87 Courtesy of John Fox.

  89 Garsault, François-Alexandre de. L’art du paumier-raquetier et de la paume. Descriptions des arts et métiers, faites ou approuvées par messieurs de l’Académie royale des sciences, Paris, 1767. Courtesy of William D. Haggard III Tennis Collection, Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, University of South Carolina Libraries.

  94-5 Jeu de paume in a royal Paris court, 1632. From Baron Morys George Lyndhurst Bruce Aberdare, Story of Tennis, 1959. Courtesy of William D. Haggard III Tennis Collection, Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, University of South Carolina Libraries. Photo of jeu de paume at Fontainebleau, 2009, courtesy of John Fox.

  119 The ancient Maya ball court at Cobá, Mexico. Wikimedia Commons 27527.

  123 Ulama player holding ball. Copyright © Janet Jarman (www.janetjarman.com).

  125 Ulama player striking ball. Copyright © Janet Jarman (www.janetjarman.com).