From Naismith to Whalen
Sixteen mostly sweet facts about the first 100 years, or so, of Minnesota basketball:
1895
On Feb. 8 — four years after Dr. James Naismith invented the game of basketball in Springfield, Mass. — Hamline University of St. Paul defeated the Minnesota State School of Agriculture 9-3 in the first intercollegiate game.
1928
Williams Arena on the University of Minnesota campus — our great old Barn and still home to the Gophers — played host to its first basketball game on Feb. 4. Dr. James Naismith, then of the University of Kansas, was the honorary referee.
1937
Minnesota won the Big Ten title. One of the Gophers' standouts was Johnny Kundla, who later went on to coach the Minneapolis Lakers to six professional titles. He then coached the Gophers for a decade starting in 1959.
1942
Hamline, coached by the legendary Joe Hutton, won the National Association of Intercollegiate Basketball championship. It added two more titles in 1949 and 1951 (the NAIB later became the NAIA).
1944
Myer "Whitey" Skoog, a Brainerd native who played for the Gophers and Minneapolis Lakers, was a 5-11 guard and one of the godfathers of the jump shot. Skoog attempted his first jump shot in 1944 while in high school.
1947
The Detroit Gems of the National Basketball League became the Minneapolis Lakers. A young sportswriter, Sid Hartman, helped with the personnel decisions. At 99, Sid still writes for the Star Tribune today.
1948
John Wooden interviewed for the coaching jobs at Minnesota and UCLA. Wooden, an Indiana native, took the UCLA position after not hearing from Minnesota at an appointed time. The apparent reason? A snowstorm.