Colchester Rubber Co. estate sale in Vista, California. The sale was from a Victorian estate in Denver, Colorado. It is known that Dr. James Naismith relocated to Denver in 1895 to attend Gross Medical College and therefore, these original Colchester Rubber Company basketball sneakers are believed to be a prototype sample made for Dr. James Naismith. The basketball shoes which Irving Watkinson created were canvas high top shoes having a rubber sole which featured a turkey feather design to aids traction and jumping, a rubber toe guard cap and a ball logo at the ankle ball which provides protection. The design of these
James Naismith His mother, Margaret Young, was born in 1833 and immigrated to Lanark County, Canada in 1852 as the fourth of 11 children. His father, John Naismith, was born in 1833, left Europe when he was 18, and also settled down in Lanark County. On June 20, 1894, Naismith married Maude Evelyn Sherman (1870–1937) in Springfield, MA, USA. The couple had five children: Margaret Mason (Stanley) (1895–1976), Helen Carolyn (Dodd) (1897–1980), John Edwin (1900–1986), Maude Ann (Dawe) (1904–1972) and James Sherman (1913–1980). He was a member of the Pi Gamma Mu and Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternities. Naismith was a Presbyterian minister,