Hall of Fame
Naismith, who invented the game of basketball and wrote the original 13 rules of this sport in 1891 was a was a professor and university physician at the University of Kansas from 1909–1917. He then served as athletic director at Kansas from 1919 until 1937. Kansas was an MVC member from 1907 until 1928.
The Ontario, Canada, native founded the Kansas basketball program and served as its first coach (from 1898-1907). Before the formation of the MVC in 1907, Naismith coached Phog Allen, who later became the coach at Kansas for 39 seasons, beginning a lengthy and prestigious coaching tree. Allen then went on to coach legends including Adolph Rupp and Dean Smith, among others, who themselves coached many notable players and future coaches.
The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., is named in his honor, and he was an inaugural inductee in 1959. His honors include a host of Hall of Fame inductions, including the FIBA Hall of Fame, the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame, the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame, the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame, the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame, the Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame, the McGill University Sports Hall of Fame, the Oklahoma State Sports Hall of Fame, the College Basketball Hall of Fame, and now the Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame.
He passed away at the age of 78 in 1939.