Original Rules of Basketball Sell for $4 Million

The original rules of basketball, written 119 years ago as a winter sport for boys of a Massachusetts YMCA, was sold for more than $4 million on Friday to raise money for charity.

James Naismith wrote the 13 rules while a physical education instructor at the Christian association.

The proceeds will benefit the Naismith foundation,  a great charity which promotes sportsmanship and provides services to underprivileged children around the world.

It was purchased by David and Suzanne Booth, who hoped to bring the rules to the University of Kansas. He is an alumnus.

Ian Naismith, the foundation's founder and grandson of James Naismith, told The Associated Press in an interview in October that it was a family decision to put the rules on the auction block and give the money to the Naismith charity.

"It's what Dr. Naismith wanted," he said.

James Naismith penned the 13 rules on Dec. 21, 1891, for the YMCA training school in Springfield. His boss had given him two weeks to come up with a new indoor activity for his gym class, and he wrote down the rules on the eve of that deadline.

He gave the list to his secretary, who typed them up on two pages that Naismith pinned on a bulletin board outside the gym.

One of his players was Forrest "Phog" Allen, who went on to become popularly known as the "father of basketball coaches."

The two are memorialized on the University of Kansas campus, where the basketball court at Allen Fieldhouse is named James Naismith Court.