Dr. Naismith's Influence On American Sports

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Dr. Naismith never imagined nor was able to witness how popular and financially prosperous basketball would become. His biggest reward and proudest moment came when he was sponsored by the National Association of Basketball Coaches to witness the sport he invented become an official Olympic sport at the 1936 Games held in Berlin. He was given the honor of tossing up the ball for the tip off of the very first game, between Estonia and France. Also at the end of the Olympic basketball competition, it was Naismith who handed out the medals to the winning teams. The United States defeated Canada for the gold medal, 19-8. How’s that for irony that Canada and the United States would play for the first gold medal? A Canadian citizen moved to the