The First Team The First Team The First Team were the first players known to have played the sport of basketball, having been taught the game in 1891 by James Naismith, who is recognized as the inventor of the sport. The team comprised 18 players who were studying in Springfield, Massachusetts, to become executive secretaries of the YMCA and who, as part of their coursework, studied physical education with Naismith, who is said to have invented the game to teach teamwork skills to his charges. The team was inducted as a group into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as part of
Dr. J.O. and Catherine Ball House Dr. J.O. and Catherine Ball House The Dr. J.O. and Catherine Ball House is a historic building located in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, United States. In 1892 this was one of three houses designed by George F. Barber's mail-order architectural firm that was being built in town, and it was the most elaborate of the three. The house is an enlargement of Barber's more expensive plans for design no. 33 from his 1891 book. The 2½-story frame Queen Anne features an irregular plan, a brick-faced limestone foundation, and an octagonal tower with an ogee shaped roof. The circular window on the