On Feb. 9, 1895, students crowded into a low-ceilinged basement gym of Hamline University’s Hall of Science, now the site of the Blue Garden, to watch the first intercollegiate basketball game.
That night, Hamline faced the University of Minnesota’s School of Agriculture, now the University of Minnesota's St. Paul campus.
The ball didn’t drop through the net but got caught in a peach basket nailed to a wall. With each score, the game stopped until an umpire climbed a ladder to retrieve the ball.
Today marks 131 years since that game, cementing Hamline’s place in basketball history just three years after James Naismith invented the sport.
The Pipers lost 9-3, but the outcome mattered far less than the precedent it set.
“No other place can claim to be the birthplace of intercollegiate basketball,” said Jim Hayes, Hamline’s head basketball coach. “We’re carrying on something that's bigger than ourselves.”
Played under Naismith’s original 13 rules, the game looked very different from today’s basketball. Teams played nine players each, dribbling was not allowed and physical contact was prohibited. Players who committed multiple fouls could be removed from the game entirely. Each game consisted of two 15-minute halves with a five-minute break in between. Each basket had to be retrieved by hand, since players used peach baskets with no holes in the bottom.
In 1995, Hamline celebrated the 100th anniversary of that first game with a reenactment, giving participants a taste of basketball’s original pace and rules. Hayes, then an assistant coach, served as a referee and experienced firsthand how different the sport once was.
“Seeing the game up close, you realize just how much it has changed,” Hayes said.
Today, Hayes shares that story with every recruit who walks into Hutton Arena. Inside a display reads “Birthplace of Intercollegiate Basketball,” reminding players that they are stepping into a program with a unique legacy.
“We make sure they understand what it means to put on that Hamline jersey,” Hayes said. “We're carrying on a legacy that is second to none.”
From peach baskets in that basement gymnasium to modern nets in Hutton Arena, every game carries a piece of that first game.