place_of_birth bill closs
___MASK36___ ( ___MASK77___ : " Asgaya gigageyi " /   ; or transliterated from English as  (" òàlàhoma "), Pawnee : " Uukuhuúwa ", Cayuga : " Gahnawiyogeh ") is a state located in the South Central United States . ___MASK36___ is the 20th - most extensive and the 28th - most populous ___MASK68___ the 50 United States . The state ' s name is derived from the Choctaw words " okla " and " humma ", meaning " red people ". It is also known informally by its nickname , " The Sooner State ", in reference to the non - Native settlers who staked their claims on the choicest pieces ___MASK68___ land before the official opening date , and the Indian Appropriations Act ___MASK68___ 1889 , which opened the door for white settlement in America ' s Indian Territory . The name was settled upon statehood , ___MASK36___ Territory and Indian Territory were merged and Indian was dropped from the name . On November 16 , 1907 , ___MASK36___ became the 46th state to enter the union . Its residents are known as " Oklahomans ", or informally " Okies ", and its capital and largest city is ___MASK36___ City . William Thomas `` Bill '' Closs ( January 8 , 1922 -- June 6 , 2011 ) was an American basketball player . He played collegiately for Rice University . In his final year , he led the Southwest Conference in scoring and was All - American in 1943 . In 1971 he was inducted into the Rice Athletic Hall ___MASK68___ Fame , and in 2003 his basketball jersey was retired . He joined the Marine Reserve while still at Rice , and was posted in the Fleet Marine Force Pacific Headquarters in Oahu , Hawaii in 1944 . Closs started professional basketball with Indianapolis in 1946 . He played for the Anderson Packers ( 1948 -- 50 ) , Philadelphia Warriors ( 1950 -- 51 ) and Fort Wayne Pistons ( 1951 -- 52 ) in the NBA for 186 games . Following the conclusion ___MASK68___ his professional basketball career , Closs enjoyed over 35 years ___MASK68___ success in the sporting goods industry . Closs died on June 6 , 2011 . The ___MASK2___ Jayhawks , commonly referred to as KU , are the teams ___MASK68___ the athletic department at the University ___MASK68___ ___MASK2___ . KU is one ___MASK68___ three schools in the state ___MASK68___ ___MASK2___ that participate in NCAA Division I . The Jayhawks are also a member ___MASK68___ the Big 12 Conference . University ___MASK68___ ___MASK2___ athletic teams have won eleven NCAA Division I championships : three in men ' s basketball , one in men ' s cross country , three in men ' s indoor track and field , three in men ' s outdoor track and field , and one in women ' s outdoor track and field . James Naismith ( November 6 , 1861  November 28 , 1939 ) was a ___MASK88___ - American physical educator , physician , chaplain , sports coach and innovator . He invented the game of basketball at age 30 in 1891 . He wrote the original basketball rule book and founded the University of Kansas basketball program . Naismith lived to see basketball adopted as an Olympic demonstration sport in 1904 and as an official event at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin , as well as the birth of the National Invitation Tournament ( 1938 ) and the NCAA Tournament ( 1939 ). The Southwest Conference ( SWC ) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996 . Composed primarily ___MASK68___ schools from ___MASK22___ , at various times the conference included schools from Oklahoma and Arkansas as well . Basketball is a sport that is played by two teams ___MASK68___ five players on a rectangular court . The objective is to shoot a ball through a hoop in diameter and mounted at a height ___MASK68___ to backboards at each end ___MASK68___ the court . The game was invented in 1891 by Dr . James Naismith , who would be the first basketball coach ___MASK68___ the Kansas Jayhawks , one ___MASK68___ the most successful programs in the game ' s history . Division I ( D - I ) is the highest level ___MASK68___ intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association ( NCAA ) in the United States . D - I schools include the major collegiate athletic powers , with larger budgets , more elaborate facilities , and more athletic scholarships than Divisions II and III as well as many smaller schools committed to the highest level ___MASK68___ intercollegiate competition . ___MASK85___ is a state located in the southeastern region ___MASK68___ the United States . Its name is ___MASK68___ Siouan derivation from the language ___MASK68___ the Osage denoting their related kin , the Quapaw Indians . The state ' s diverse geography ranges from the mountainous regions ___MASK68___ the Ozark and the Ouachita Mountains , which make up the U . S . Interior Highlands , to the densely forested land in the south known as the ___MASK85___ Timberlands , to the eastern lowlands along the Mississippi River and the ___MASK85___ Delta . ___MASK22___ is the second largest state in the United States by both area and population . Geographically located in the south central part of the country , ___MASK22___ shares borders with the U . S . states of Louisiana to the east , Arkansas to the northeast , Oklahoma to the north , New Mexico to the west , and the Mexican states of Chihuahua , Coahuila , Nuevo León , and Tamaulipas to the southwest , while the Gulf of Mexico is to the southeast .