First Court and First Team

First basketball court, Springfield YMCA
Note the peach basket.

In late 1891, Dr. Luther Halsey Gulick Jr., the superintendent of physical education at the International YMCA Training School (now Springfield College) in Springfield, Mass., challenged Naismith to create a new indoor game "that would be interesting, easy to learn, and easy to play in the winter and by artificial light." Naismith reflected on popular games of the day (baseball, football, lacrosse, rugby and soccer) and the games from his childhood (duck on a rock), and assembled the pieces that would become Basket Ball. It would be 30 years before it would be shortened to one word.

Naismith had the school janitor, Pop Stebbins, nail two peach baskets to the lower rail of the gymnasium balcony, one at each end, while the secretary, Mrs. Lyons, typed the original 13 rules. Then he nervously awaited his students' arrival.

"There were 18 in the class," Naismith said years later. "I selected two captains and had them choose sides. I placed the men on the floor. There were three forwards, three centers and three backs on each team. I chose two of the center men to jump, then threw the ball between them. It was the start of the first basketball game and the finish of trouble with that class."

That first basketball game was played on December 21, 1891. Halfway into the 30 minute game, William R. Chase made the first basket ever; as a result, his side won, 1-0. The team that emerged from Dr. James Naismith's gym class is now enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

The team consisted of nine players and their coach, pictured here on the steps of Springfield College Gymnasium in 1891.

Back row: John G. Thompson, New Glasgow, N.S.; Eugene S. Libby, Redlands, Cal.; Edwin P. Ruggles, Milton, Mass.; William R. Chase, New Bedford, Mass.; T. Duncan Patton, Montreal, Que. Center: Frank Mahan, Memphis, Tenn.; James Naismith, Almonte, Ont. Front row: F. G. Macdonald, Pictou, N.S.; William H. Davis, Holyoke, Mass.; Lyman W. Archibald, Truro, N.S.

The North Carolina Tar Heels played their first basketball game on January 27, 1910.

First Team - 1910-11

North Carolina played its first basketball game against Virginia Christian, on January 27, 1911, a 42–21 win for North Carolina. In 1921, North Carolina joined the Southern Conference. The 1924 Tar Heels squad went 26–0 and was retroactively awarded the national championship by the Helms Athletic Foundation in 1936. Overall, the Tar Heels played 32 seasons in the Southern Conference from 1921 to 1953. During that period they won 304 games and lost 111 for a winning percentage of 73.3%. The Tar Heels were winners of the regular season for nine times and won the Southern Conference Championships eight times.

"MJ"

During the summer before Michael Jordan’s senior year in high school in Wilmington, NC, he attended the nationally renowned Five-Star Basketball Camp, where he met UNC’s head basketball coach Dean Smith. Smith began recruiting Michael to play for the Tar Heels, and in November of 1980 MJ signed a letter of intent to attend UNC. In 1981 Michael Jordan accepted a full basketball scholarship from the University of North Carolina, in the state where he was raised. Michael was only the fourth freshman to earn a starting spot under Coach Smith.

Streaks

In the history of college basketball, the Tar Heels have appeared in either the NCAA Tournament or National Invitation Tournament (NIT) every year from 1967 to 2001. This includes 27 straight appearances in the NCAA tourney from 1975 to 2001—the longest such streak in tournament history.

The Tar Heels also notched 37 straight winning seasons from 1964 to 2001, the third-longest such streak in NCAA history, behind UCLA's streak of 54 consecutive winning seasons from 1948 to 2001, and Syracuse's currently active streak of 39 seasons from 1971 to date.

The Tar Heels also finished .500 or better for 39 years in a row from 1962 (Dean Smith's second year) to 2001, the third-longest such streak in NCAA history.

Hard Work!

Coach Williams says, "We put our hands in and chant something my teams have been saying since I was North Carolina's junior varsity coach: Hard work! It's something I've believed in since I was a kid shoveling snow off the basketball court so I could practice or selling calendars or going right back out on the recruiting trail after winning a national title. The phrase is a reminder that nobody is going to outwork us. I think it pulls our guys together and gives them strength. It is what the players chant when they huddle for any timeout or any deadball. It's a constant reminder: Hard work!"