Springfield College (Massachusetts) Springfield College (Massachusetts) Springfield College is a private, coeducational college located in Springfield, Massachusetts. The institution confers undergraduate, post-graduate, and doctoral degrees. Known as the birthplace of basketball, the sport was invented there in 1891 by Canadian graduate student James Naismith. The college's philosophy of "humanics" "calls for the education of the whole person—in spirit, mind, and body—for leadership in service to others." It is symbolized by a triangle. Founded in 1885, as the Young Men's Christian Association department of the School for Christian Workers in Springfield, the school originally specialized in preparing young men to become General Secretaries of
YMCA YMCA in Springfield, Mass. in 1891 by Dr. James Naismith, a clergyman, educator and physician. Naismith was asked to create an indoor "athletic distraction" to keep rowdy youth busy in the cold New England winter months. Luther Gulick, the head of the Springfield Y, gave Naismith two weeks to come up with a game to occupy a particularly incorrigible group. Naismith decided the game had to be physically active, simple to understand and would have minimal physical roughness. The original game was played with a soccer ball and two peach baskets nailed to the balcony of the Springfield Y. The