In a rare recording, James Naismith describes the first basketball game as an all-out brawl

James Naismith wanted something to keep a bunch of college boys busy during a blizzard, so he nailed up a couple of peach baskets and tossed out a ball. What he ended up with was what he described as a "free-for-all in the middle of the gym floor."

So he added a few rules, including one that introduced dribbling. And what he ended up with was basketball.

The University of Kansas recently unearthed what is thought to be the only recording of Naismith's voice. In a January 31, 1939, broadcast of the radio program "We the People," Naismith -- once the physical instructor of Springfield College in Massachusetts but known to most of us as the inventor of basketball -- describes the very first game, in 1891, which ended up being more of an all-out brawl.

"The boys began tackling, kicking and punching," Naismith said. "They ended up in a free-for-all in the middle of the gym floor. Before I could pull them apart, one boy was knocked out, several of them had black eyes and one had a dislocated shoulder. It was certainly murder.

"Well, after that first match, I was afraid they'd kill each other. But they kept nagging me to let them play again. So I made up some more rules. The most important one was there was to be no running with the ball. That stopped the tackling and slugging. We tried out the game with those rules and we didn't have one casualty. We had a fine, clean sport."