I showed them two peach baskets I'd nailed up at each end of the gym, and I told them the idea was to throw the ball into the opposing team's peach basket. I blew a whistle, and the first game of basketball began. ... The boys began tackling, kicking, and punching in the clinches. They ended up in a free-for-all in the middle of the gym floor. injury toll: several black eyes, one separated shoulder, and one player knocked unconscious. "It certainly was murder." changed some of the rules as part of his quest to develop a clean sport. The most important one was that there should be no running with the ball. That stopped tackling and slugging. We tried out the game with those rules (fouls), and we didn't have one casualty.