Colchester Rubber Co. The brand known for being the world’s first Sneaker brand and inventing the “World’s First Basketball Sneakers”, circa 1892. The town of Colchester was a mere 50 miles from Springfield, Massachusetts where basketball was invented in December 1891 by Dr. James Naismith. Given his interest in sport, it is believed that Irving Watkinson was a basketball player early in the life of the sport. Whatever his link with the sport and Dr. Naismith, it is considered that Irving Watkinson designed a shoe specifically for use playing basketball. A surviving pair of basketball shoes was discovered in December 2004 at an
The Massachusetts Game from a set of rules drawn up in 1858 by the Massachusetts Association of Base Ball Players at Dedham. Although it was recognizably a type of baseball, some features of the Massachusetts Game are very different from modern baseball: Two "modern" features of the Massachusetts Game were not present in New York-style rules drawn up the same year by National Association of Base Ball Players. The Massachusetts Game was more wide-open than modern "New York" baseball, with more scoring and, its proponents claimed, more excitement. First base was only 30 feet away from the striker. There was a constant supply