Dave Ganong holds a vintage-style basketball at a former gym in St. Stephen, N.B., where a protégé of James Naismith introduced the sport to young athletes in the 1890s.Photography by Chris Donovan/The Globe and Mail
It was built for calisthenics, not shooting three-pointers or soaring jump shots. But if you use your imagination, you can still hear the squeak of sneakers on the hardwood.
In 1893, Lyman Archibald brought basketball to St. Stephen, N.B., a mill town of about 4,500 people across the St. Croix River from Maine. A protégé of James Naismith, the Canadian inventor of the sport, Archibald was hired to run the local YMCA. He helped introduce many young athletes to the new indoor game that was rapidly gaining popularity across the continent.
While most of the early courts basketball was played on have been destroyed, Archibald’s remarkable gymnasium survived, hidden for decades above a thrift shop that until recently occupied the former YMCA building. And now, a group of businesspeople and hoops enthusiasts are a step closer to sharing it with the world.
Last week, the Canada First Basketball organization passed the $1-million fundraising mark in its effort to build a basketball museum and international hoops shrine that will celebrate the old court, with its low, pressed-tin ceilings and lighting system operated by an iron crank on a wall.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do, but we’re on our way,” said David Ganong, one of the group’s members and executive vice-chair of Ganong Bros., the oldest chocolate company in Canada.
The gym doesn’t look anything like a modern basketball court. It’s about half the length of an NBA court, and narrow enough that a player chasing an out-of-bounds ball might go flying out one of the second-storey windows.
With its baby-blue walls and hoops made of woven fruit baskets hanging at either end, it feels like a portal to the 19th century. A newspaper account of a basketball game played here on Oct. 17, 1893 – months before a well-documented game at a YMCA in Paris – makes it the oldest existing court in the world, the organization says.
The old court was discovered after a fire in 2010 damaged a blue carpet in the room, which was being used by the thrift shop as storage space.
The building has seen so many different uses since it was a YMCA – including as a recruiting centre during the First World War, a drugstore and a dance hall – that many locals forgot basketball games were once played there.
“After the fire, they pulled back the carpet and said, ‘What the heck is this?’” Mr. Ganong said. “It was kind of lost to local history as to what it was.”
Mr. Ganong unlocks the entrance to the building. Its original tin ceiling and wooden floorboards are still intact, and on the walls, fruit baskets take the place of the now-standard mesh nets.
The project has the support of Canada Basketball, the sport’s governing body. The national organization is providing “ideas, connections and guidance, where appropriate,” according to spokesperson Matt Walker. The project’s organizers hope to get the NBA and the Toronto Raptors on board, too.
Prominent New Brunswick business leaders, including Frank McKenna, John Irving and tech investor Tom Liston, have provided early financial backing. The project may have some competition south of the border from the existing Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, in Springfield, Mass. But the St. Stephen group is hoping its own facility will eventually play host to artifacts from the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame, which doesn’t have a permanent home. They also hope to showcase basketball exhibits and even host three-on-three games in the building’s back parking lot.
Mr. Ganong, whose own basketball career ended after high school when he tore cartilage in his foot during a game, wants the basketball shrine to make St. Stephen a tourist destination not unlike Cooperstown is for baseball fans. Among some business owners in town, there are already visions of new restaurants, sports bars and a hotel catering to basketball fans who want to make the pilgrimage.
“When this is up and running, it should bring a lot of folks through town,” he said. “It will become a catalyst to create a lot of activity associated with this.”
The first $1-million is being spent on completing the group’s purchase of the gym building and an adjacent property, and on engineering work to determine how to modernize and preserve the space. The second phase will include another round of fundraising, to an estimated eventual total of $10-million, and efforts to raise the project’s profile among Canadian NBAers, the group says.
Carol Kelly, chair of Canada First Basketball’s fundraising team, said it’s a thrill to see the project move closer to reality after years of planning and dreaming. “It’s inspiring that with this small group of St. Stephen volunteers we have a clear and ambitious strategy for the building moving forward. We are proud to preserve and showcase the town’s rich history,” she said.
TORONTO – Reigning PWHL MVP and scoring champ Natalie Spooner will miss the start of the regular season for the Toronto Sceptres, general manager Gina Kingsbury announced Tuesday on the first day of training camp.
The 33-year-old Spooner had knee surgery on her left anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) after she was checked into the boards by Minnesota’s Grace Zumwinkle in Game 3 of their best-of-five semifinal series on May 13.
She had a goal and an assist in three playoff games but did not finish the series. Toronto was up 2-1 in the semifinal at that time and eventually fell 3-2 in the series.
Spooner led the PWHL with 27 points in 24 games. Her 20 goals, including five game-winners, were nine more than the closest skater.
Kingsbury said there is no timeline, as the team wants the Toronto native at 100 per cent, but added that “she is doing really well” in her recovery.
The Sceptres open the PWHL season on Nov. 30 when they host the Boston Fleet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — A top official of the Pakistan Cricket Board declined Friday to confirm media reports that India has decided against playing any games in host Pakistan during next year’s Champions Trophy.
“My view is if there’s any problems, they (India) should tell us in writing,” PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi told reporters in Lahore. “I’ll share that with the media as well as with the government as soon as I get such a letter.”
Indian media reported Friday that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has communicated its concerns to all the Champions Trophy stakeholders, including the PCB, over the Feb. 19-March 9 tournament and would not play in arch-rival Pakistan.
The Times of India said that “Dubai is a strong candidate to host the fixtures involving the Men in Blue” for the 50-over tournament.
Such a solution would see Pakistan having to travel to a neutral venue to play India in a group match, with another potential meeting later in the tournament if both teams advanced from their group. The final is scheduled for March 9 in Pakistan with the specific venue not yet decided.
“Our stance is clear,” Naqvi said. “They need to give us in writing any objections they may have. Until now, no discussion of the hybrid model has happened, nor are we prepared to accept one.”
Political tensions have stopped bilateral cricket between the two nations since 2008 and they have competed in only multi-nation tournaments, including ICC World Cups.
“Cricket should be free of politics,” Naqvi said. “Any sport should not be entangled with politics. Our preparations for the Champions Trophy will continue unabated, and this will be a successful event.”
The PCB has already spent millions of dollars on the upgrade of stadiums in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi which are due to host 15 Champions Trophy games. Naqvi hoped all the three stadiums will be ready over the next two months.
“Almost every country wants the Champions Trophy to be played here (in Pakistan),” Naqvi said. “I don’t think anyone should make this a political matter, and I don’t expect they will. I expect the tournament will be held at the home of the official hosts.”
Eight countries – Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Afghanistan – are due to compete in the tournament, the schedule of which is yet to be announced by the International Cricket Council.
“Normally the ICC announces the schedule of any major tournament 100 days before the event, and I hope they will announce it very soon,” Naqvi said.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Ottawa‘s Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand are through to the doubles final at the WTA Finals after a 7-6 (7), 6-1 victory over Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the United States and Australia’s Ellen Perez in semifinal action Friday.
Dabrowski and Routliffe won a hard-fought first set against serve when Routliffe’s quick reaction at the net to defend a Perez shot gave the duo set point, causing Perez to throw down her racket in frustration.
The second seeds then cruised through the second set, winning match point on serve when Melichar-Martinez couldn’t handle Routliffe’s shot.
The showdown was a rematch of last year’s semifinal, which Melichar-Martinez and Perez won in a super tiebreak.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will face the winner of a match between Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend, and Hao-Ching Chan and Veronika Kudermetova in the final on Saturday.
Dabrowski is aiming to become the first Canadian to win a WTA Finals title.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
:format(jpeg)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tgam/E2QAQDQ4SJGHNBOAFPMEVKAZLI.JPG)
:format(jpeg)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tgam/FIJMGBKX2JD5NIUJIIUC3XUGEY.jpg)
:format(jpeg)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tgam/JFJSGFOMB5FZHO3TUMT4UIAEGE.JPG)
:format(jpeg)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tgam/4A3FERKFXFGRVA5K362DIXAJYI.JPG)
