William G. Morgan - Creating The Sport

Creating The Sport

As William Morgan worked as the Director of Physical Education at the YMCA in Holyoke, he started to notice that the game of basketball was not meant for everyone to play. The weaker young men, non-athlete adults, and the older adults were not able to keep up with running up and down the court, along with the amount of contact they would occasionally run into. Morgan then had to think of a game in where everyone would have an equal amount of participation but also had similar objectives to basketball. He wanted to think of a game, which everyone could play, no matter your age, or physical ability.

Between trying to run classes at the YMCA and creating a new sport suitable for all, Morgan decided it was best that he use ideas from various sports such as handball, tennis, and badminton, and his own knowledge from sports training methods and experience, to create this new sport. He decided that the game would involve a six-foot, six-inch net in the middle dividing the 2 separate playing areas, and that it would be played on a 30 ft. x 60 ft. court, so that it could be played in gyms anywhere across the nation.

After creating some ground rules, William Morgan had to experiment with his game. First, he had to decide which ball to use. A basketball was too heavy while the basketball bladder was too light. After testing all of the balls he had available, he had come to the conclusion that his best option was to ask A.G. Spalding & Bros. to make him a ball. Morgan was very pleased with Spalding & Bros. work. They created Morgan the perfect ball for his sport, which was covered in leather, with the circumference of 25-27 inches. The ball was also the perfect weight for Morgan’s sport. The ball weighed 9-12 ounces. This new ball that had been made for Morgan’s sport was the perfect finishing touch to the basics of the sport. The last thing that had to be done by Morgan was to create a name. Morgan came up with “Mintonette” as the new name for his game.