William G. Morgan William G. Morgan William George Morgan (January 23, 1870 – December 27, 1942) was the inventor of volleyball, originally called "Mintonette", a name derived from the game of badminton which he later agreed to change to better reflect the nature of the sport. He was born in Lockport, New York, US. He met James Naismith, inventor of basketball, while Morgan was studying at Springfield College in 1892. Like Naismith, Morgan pursued a career in Physical Education at the YMCA. Influenced by Naismith and basketball, in 1895, in Holyoke, Massachusetts, Morgan invented "Mintonette" a less vigorous team sport more suitable for
Clement G. Morgan send their children to the Plain School, a segregated school for the town's 33 black children. The school was subsequently shut down. Morgan was one of the original 29 members of the Niagara Movement, a civil rights organization founded by Du Bois in 1905. Du Bois chose him to represent the Massachusetts chapter. Along with Butler R. Wilson, William Monroe Trotter and others, Morgan was critical of Booker T. Washington's accommodationist approach. Morgan was later active in the Boston branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), which was presided over by Wilson. Morgan and Wilson