A 119-year-old document in which James Naismith detailed the original rules of basketball was auctioned off Friday for $4.3 million in an effort to raise funds for charity.
The Almonte, Ont.-native studied at McGill University before moving to the United States. He drew up the 13 rules while he was a physical education instructor with the YMCA in Massachusetts.
The historic document was sold through Sotheby's by the Naismith International Basketball Foundation (NIBF).
Billionaire David Booth and his wife Suzanne had the winning bid. Booth, chairman of a Texas mutual fund company, said he wanted to give the rules to the University of Kansas, where Naismith spent the final 41 years of his life.
When the auction was announced in October, Selby Kiffer, a senior specialist in American history documents at Sotheby's, described the document as "the birth certificate of one of the world's most popular sports."
"Basketball is a pure invention," he said. "It's a sport that has had an impact on everything from fashion, such as sneakers, to culture that in a way transcends sports."
Allen Rae, a former Olympic basketball referee and president of the Dr. James Naismith Basketball Foundation & Museum in Almonte, said he hopes the original rules will remain in North America after the sale.
"Dr. Naismith was born just outside Almonte, Ontario, and he created the game while he was working in the United States. So we feel that there's a dual bit of history there," he told CTV News Channel.
"Relations that we have with our neighbour to the south would dictate that it be shared equally, in terms of the treasure."
Schools like UCLA, North Carolina and Duke have "expressed interest in keeping the rules in the United States," Rae added.
Proceeds from the sale will go to the NIBH, which advocates for sportsmanship and provides services to disadvantaged youth in a number of countries.
The organization was founded by Ian Naismith, the grandson of James Naismith. In October he told The Associated Press the Naismith family had decided to auction off the rules for his charity.
"It's what Dr. Naismith wanted," he said.
James Naismith drew up the original 13 rules on Dec. 21, 1891, so that youth at the YMCA training school in Springfield, Mass., could play the game in winter.
His boss had asked him to devise a new indoor activity within two weeks, and he created the rules the evening before that deadline. His secretary typed them up on two pages which Naismith tacked on a bulletin board outside the YMCA's gym.
Seven years later he moved to Lawrence, Kan., to become the first basketball coach at the University of Kansas.
Basketball became an official sport at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Naismith died three years later.
With files from The Associated Press
