Basketball Archives - www.oldtimestrongman.com

Vintage Indian Clubs

Posted on Monday, June 18th, 2018 by John Wood

Here’s a few members of the Proviso (Illinois) Township High School Basketball team clowning around. That’s Cunningham on the left, Jarus in the middle, and Warren on the right. What I’m more interested in is the Indian Clubs on the wall in the back – Wow, what a selection! This picture was taken in 1922 – and back then sights such as this were common place.

The Springfield College Gymnasium

Posted on Wednesday, November 7th, 2012 by John Wood

What’s notable about this particular old gym? Look close and you’ll see a rack of Indian clubs, some light barbells and some other vintage gymnastic equipment which makes it pretty nifty insofar as oldtime training gear goes but there is another reason that this gym stands out… It was at this gym, at the School for Christian Workers at Springfield College in December of 1891, where the first game of organized basketball took place. James Naismith, under orders from Springfield’s physical education director Dr. Luther Halsey Gulick, was to develop a vigorous indoor game which could keep the students in shape during the winter months. The baskets — actual peach baskets — were nailed to the lower rail of the balcony, which happened to be exactly 10 feet from the floor… and the rest is history.

This picture was taken around 1887, so a few years before all the hubbub started.

The 23rd Street Y.M.C.A.

Posted on Tuesday, May 29th, 2012 by John Wood

A look at the interior of the famed 23rd street Y.M.C.A. in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, sometime around 1900. Though the available equipment was spartan by some standards, it was certainly all that was (and is) required to build a high level of strength and vitality.

This facility is actually famous for several other reasons: It was one of the first centers of widespread basketball interest and activity in the US… in fact, the team that practiced in this gym, headed by Alfred “The Kid” Abadie and his brother Bob, won the very first national AAU tournament championship in 1898. Charles Merrill and Edmund Lynch (of Merrill Lynch) are said to have met in the swimming pool sometime in 1913 and, as the story goes, many decades later, it was this location that inspired the Village People song “Y.M.C.A.”

Around a decade ago, the building was sold and this area was turned into luxury apartments.