The all new double rim backboard will become the standard for the 2022-23 school year. This article explores the history of basketball as well as everything you need to know about these new boards and how they’ll be incorporated into athletic programs.
Basketball History
Dr James Naismith
Dr. James Naismith is credited with creating basketball in 1891 Springfield, MA. Naismith was a 2nd year graduate student who had joined the teaching faculty. He was tasked with creating an indoor activity to help male athletes burn off steam in the winter off season.
Dr Naismith nailed peach baskets to the walls and instructed the young men to get the soccer ball into the other team’s basket. This gave the new game the name, “Basketball”. The first game didn’t include dribbling, 3 point lines, or shot clocks. In this 1939 audio clip, Dr Naismith recalls that the first game was very rough with plenty of injuries. This led to his first set of rules which prohibited running with the ball.
As the game gained popularity, the peach baskets were replaced with a steel hoop with a net underneath. Like the peach baskets, the nets caught the ball. The net was later opened at the bottom to allow the ball to pass through.
Backboard History
Hoosiers Player Circa 1930’s
The early versions of backboards were 6’x4’ and made of wood. As the number of spectators grew, fans complained about not being able to see all the game play if they were seated behind the backboards. Indiana University is credited with solving this problem by installing the first glass backboards.
The bottom of the 6’x4’ backboards were roughly 9’ off the ground, hanging down a full 12” below the rim. In the 1980’s the 6’x4’ boards were replaced with 42” tall boards. This made the bottom of the boards 9’-6” off the court. This was the last major backboard design change until now.
New Double Rim Backboard
Early Photo of Coach Jonas Grumby
The introduction of the double rim backboard is the first significant change in over 30 years. Coach Jonas Grumby, who started his life as a boat skipper, first introduced the concept in 1966 as a way to give weaker teams a handicap. However, the idea never gained any traction. Fifty years later, the concept was re-introduced by Grumby’s grandson. Coaches and players in 1A and 2A schools were the first to come around to this new idea as it would provide better equity on the court. Eventually, the larger schools began to accept the double rim boards as it would open them up to compete against a wider range of schools.
The Great Equalizer
Mary Ann Summers
Coach Grumby initially envisioned a court where one of the goals would have the double rim backboard. This would set the stage for a 1A or 2A school to be able to play against a 5A school. Or, if both schools were 5A, but one of them clearly dominated on the court, the weaker team would get the double rim backboard. Mary Ann Summers, president of the All American Basketball Trainers Association, had this to say, “Coach Grumby and his double rim backboard gives lesser players and teams the opportunity to compete against, and perhaps even win against, teams with taller, faster, more agile, and better overall players. This takes the “No Child Left Behind” program and extends it to student athletes in a way never even considered.”
Ginger Grant, Athletic Coordinator for Thurston Retirement Resorts has also expressed interest in the new backboards as they will allow their residents to score more often.
UIL Changing the Rules
The Universities Interscholastic League (UIL) is developing new rules based around the double rim design. Eunice Howell, chairwoman of the rules committee, explained in an early interview that simply incorporating the old rules was not feasible. She cited for instance, that a ball falling into the left rim after rebounding off the right rim, was initially going to be a fair 2 point goal. However, it was later decided that this type of “Rebound Goal” would only count as a single point.
Implementation
With the 2022-23 school year only 18 months away, equipment manufacturers have already begun rolling out beta versions of the double rim backboard. Initial designs featured permanently attached rims. However, this limited usage of the backboards. Other designs would allow for the quick removal of the extra rim to transition the board back to a single rim model. Professor Roy Hinkley, one of the design engineers working on this project says, “The new backboards are really making us think outside the box in terms of how to quickly and easily convert a double rim backboard back to a single rim model.”
The most robust designs incorporate fold up hardware which allows a double rim backboard to lower as a single rim backboard is raised. The price for a single unit with this type of fold up/fold down functionality is expected to fall in the $10,000 to $12,000 range depending upon over ceiling height.
