Sports in New England Sports in New England Two popular American sports were invented in New England. Basketball was invented by James Naismith in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1891. Volleyball was invented by William G. Morgan in Holyoke, Massachusetts, in 1895. Also, the first organized ice hockey game in the United States is widely believed to have been played in Concord, New Hampshire in 1883. The region is famous for its passion for baseball and the Boston Red Sox, as well as for the intense rivalry between the Red Sox and the New York Yankees. On November 1, 1924, the Boston Bruins of the National
Defender (1895 yacht) Defender (1895 yacht) Defender was the victorious United States defender of the tenth America's Cup in 1895 against challenger "Valkyrie III". Defender was designed by Nathanael Greene Herreshoff and built by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company in 1895. It was Herreshoff's second victorious America's Cup defender design. "Defender" was a sloop with all-metal construction: steel, aluminum, and manganese bronze. It was owned by William Kissam Vanderbilt, Edwin Dennison Morgan and Charles Oliver Iselin, and skippered by Henry C. Haff. "Defender" defeated the New York Yacht Club's "Vigilant" then went on to defend the cup against British keel cutter "Valkyrie III". Lord