The game of basketball was invented by:

Basketball was invented in December 1891 by Dr. James Naismith, a Canadian-born physical education teacher, at the YMCA International Training School (now Springfield College) in Springfield, Massachusetts, USA.

How basketball was invented:

Naismith was asked to create an indoor game that would keep students active during the cold New England winter and that would be less rough than American football.

He nailed two peach baskets to the balcony at each end of the gymnasium, about 10 feet (3.05 m) above the floor. This is why the basket is still 3.05 m high today.

The first game was played with a soccer ball, and the players had to climb up to take the ball out of the basket after each goal. Open-bottomed nets were introduced later.

Naismith wrote 13 basic rules for the game, many of which are still used.

The first public game was played in March 1892.

Basketball spread quickly through the YMCA network around the world.

About James Naismith (1861-1939):

• He was born in Almonte, Ontario, Canada.
• He later became a professor at the University of Kansas, where he started its basketball programme.
• When basketball became an Olympic sport at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Naismith was present and presented the medals.
• The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield is named after him.

Basketball today:

• The international governing body is FIBA, founded in 1932.
• The National Basketball Association (NBA) in the USA was founded in 1946.
• Each team has 5 players on the court.

Inventors of other sports:

William G. Morgan: volleyball (1895), at the YMCA in Holyoke, Massachusetts.

Walter Camp: known as the "Father of American Football".

Abner Doubleday: traditionally (but doubtfully) credited with inventing baseball (1839).

Major Walter Wingfield: lawn tennis (1873-74).

Why not the other options?

William G. Morgan invented volleyball.

Walter Camp shaped the rules of American football.

Abner Doubleday is traditionally, but wrongly, credited with baseball.