Historedia
Episode 4 of 4

First Public Game

When
March 12, 1892
Where
Springfield College
Part of
James Naismith invents basketball at Springfield, December 1891

Naismith invited Amos Alonzo Stagg to play in the first public basketball game on March 12, 1892.

Naismith invited Amos Alonzo Stagg, head football coach at the college, to participate in the first public basketball game on March 12, 1892. This event marked the game's transition from an internal class activity to a public sport.

Sources

  1. James Naismith Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-29
  2. Springfield College Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-24

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.