The 1896

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

vs.

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

men's basketball game was the first five-on-five

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

game played in United States history. Although the sport had been first played in 1892, seven to nine players had been used on a side. At the urging of the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

's head football coach, Amos Alonzo Stagg, Chicago's men's club team traveled to

Iowa City, Iowa Iowa City, offically the City of Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is the home of the University of Iowa and county seat of Johnson County, at the center of the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the time ...

, to play the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...

on January 18, 1896, in an experimental game. The match was played in Close Hall, and due to

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

constraints, only approximately 500 people were able to watch. Iowa physical education teacher Dr. Henry F. Kallenberg reduced the teams to five players on a side, and the modern version of basketball was born. Kallenberg came to Iowa from

Springfield College Springfield College is a private college in Springfield, Massachusetts. It confers undergraduate and graduate degrees. It is known as the birthplace of basketball because the sport was invented there in 1891 by Canadian-American instructor J ...

, where he was a classmate of Dr. James Naismith.Hawkeye Legends, Lists, & Lore by Mike Finn, Chad Leistikow, Sports Publishing, Inc., Champaign, IL, 1998, p. 2 Chicago won, 15–12, to secure modern college basketball's first-ever win.

References

{{Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball navbox College basketball games in the United States 1895–96 in American college basketball Chicago Maroons men's basketball Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball Basket January 1896 sports events