At the turn of the twentieth century, Kentucky was still predominantly rural. Winter often brought travel and outdoor activity to a standstill, leaving students searching for an indoor diversion after football season. Baseball and football had become increasingly popular, but the traditional calisthenics and gymnastics offered inside college gymnasiums held far less appeal.
The institution that would become the University of Kentucky was then known as Kentucky State College. Established in 1865 as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky, it initially operated as part of Kentucky University. The schools separated in 1878, and the A&M College moved to South Limestone Street in 1882. It became State University in 1908 and finally the University of Kentucky in 1917.
Competitive athletics did not enjoy universal support on campus. President James K. Patterson, who led the institution from 1878 to 1910, opposed football and other intercollegiate sports. He believed they distracted students from their studies, encouraged idleness and exposed participants to injury. Football was the dominant game, but its increasingly rough reputation strengthened Patterson’s objections and left an opening for a new winter sport.
That sport was basketball, invented in 1891 by Dr. James A. Naismith at the International YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts. Naismith mounted two peach baskets on balcony rails ten feet above the gymnasium floor, divided his class into two teams and introduced a game originally played with a soccer ball. The earliest baskets retained their bottoms, so the ball had to be recovered with a ladder or pole after every successful shot.
Basketball reached Kentucky through YMCA programs and informal school exhibitions. Louisville architect Hugh Nevin later recalled playing the game at the Louisville YMCA as early as 1895. Those contests were far rougher than modern basketball. Players could not dribble, passing was limited, and physical battles for the ball made the game resemble indoor football. Nevin’s YMCA league featured teams identified by colors, with the Black team winning the first championship.
The first recorded basketball game in which University of Kentucky students faced an outside opponent was played on February 4, 1901. Students representing the university’s Art, Bible, Law and Medical colleges formed a team to meet the Lexington YMCA. Efforts were also made to arrange games against Georgetown College and the Louisville YMCA, although no record has been found showing that those contests were played.
Basketball gained momentum during the following school year. Kentucky played several Friday-night games at the YMCA and participated in exhibitions intended largely for entertainment. The 1901–02 yearbook included a photograph of the university’s first basketball team and reported that the new game had become popular among both men and women. The team even traveled north to face one of the country’s strongest squads and, despite losing, returned having made a respectable showing.
Women at the university were building a basketball tradition of their own. Teams representing the College of Liberal Arts and the College of the Bible played three games against one another, while another women’s team faced Hamilton College, then a division of Kentucky University. That contest was believed to be the first collegiate women’s basketball game played in the Bluegrass region.
By the summer of 1902, basketball was also appearing on Lexington school grounds and playgrounds. The sport was beginning to move beyond the colleges and YMCA gymnasiums and into the wider community. Plans soon emerged for a Blue Grass Basketball League that would include the YMCA, Kentucky State College, Kentucky University and Georgetown College as charter members.
Basketball at Kentucky began without scholarships, packed arenas or championship expectations. It was simply a new indoor game gaining a foothold during the winter months. From those YMCA contests, student exhibitions and loosely organized early teams came the beginning of a program that would eventually make Kentucky synonymous with college basketball.