inception atlanta glory
James Naismith ( November 6 , ___MASK97___  November 28 , ___MASK87___ ) was a Canadian - 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 ( ___MASK87___ ). The Kansas Jayhawks , commonly referred to as KU , are the teams of the athletic department at the University of Kansas . KU is one of three schools in the state of Kansas that participate in NCAA Division I . The Jayhawks are also a member of the Big ___MASK39___ Conference . University of Kansas 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 . The Atlanta Glory was a women ' s professional basketball team in Atlanta , Georgia . It was a member of the American Basketball League . The Glory played its home games in Forbes Arena . The team folded before the start of the abortive third ABL season in 1998 . Notable players for the Glory included their star and head coach , Teresa Edwards , as well as Saudia Roundtree and Katrina McClain Johnson . The Atlanta Glory , owned by Dwight Martin , is also a 2012 expansion team of the Women ' s American Basketball Association . The ___MASK75___ Summer Olympics , known officially as the Games of the XXVI Olympiad and unofficially as the Centennial Olympic Games , was a major international multi - sport event that took place in Atlanta , Georgia , United States , from July 19 to August 4 , ___MASK75___ . A record 197 nations , all current IOC member nations , took part in the Games , comprising 10 , 318 athletes . The International Olympic Committee voted in 1986 to separate the Summer and Winter Games , which had been held in the same year since 1924 , and place them in alternating even - numbered years , beginning in 1994 . The ___MASK75___ Summer Games were the first to be staged in a different year from the Winter Games . Atlanta became the fifth American city to host the Olympic Games and the third to hold a Summer Olympic Games . Basketball is a sport that is played by two teams of five players on a rectangular court . The objective is to shoot a ball through a hoop in diameter and mounted at a height of to backboards at each end of the court . The game was invented in ___MASK60___ by Dr . James Naismith , who would be the first basketball coach of the Kansas Jayhawks , one of the most successful programs in the game ' s history . The Forbes Arena is a 6 , 000 - seat multi - purpose arena in Atlanta , Georgia , USA . It is home to the Morehouse College Maroon Tigers basketball team . It also hosted basketball preliminaries during the ___MASK75___ Summer Olympics and was the home arena to the Atlanta Glory . It was opened in ___MASK75___ at a cost of $ 8 million . It sits adjacent to the college ' s old gym , Archer Hall , which sits 1 , 000 .