The Origins of the Jump Shot: Eight Men Who Shook the World of Basketball [Paperback]

John Christgau (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1999

Before the jump shot, basketball was an earth-bound game. In fact, inventor James Naismith did not originally intend for players to move with the ball. The inspired invention of the dribble first put the ball handler in motion. The jump shot then took the action upward. But where, when, and how did the jump shot originate?

 

Everybody interested in basketball knows the answer to that question. Unfortunately, everybody knows a different answer. John Christgau delves into basketball’s evolution, following the supposed inventors of the jump shot to the games in which they first took to the air. He discovers that a number of pioneer players, independently but from the same inspired possibility, can each claim credit for inventing the jump shot.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Ever wondered about the person who invented the basketball jump shot? Christgau, author of Enemies: World War II Alien Internment (LJ 11/15/85) and a former San Francisco State University basketball player, was curious. After combing through the documented history of the game, he came to the conclusion that it was a group effortAthat eight pioneering basketball players from the 1930s and 1940s could legitimately claim to have had a hand in inventing the jump shot. Christgau paints eight colorful portraits of the men, their era, and the circumstances that led to the creative leap. The pioneers were a ski-jumping Norwegian American, one of the first black players signed to the NBA, a Californian so small that his classmates nicknamed him "Mouse," the son of an early silent film star, an alcoholic murder victim, the son of Depression-era sharecroppers, and two farm kids. Recommended for most sports history collections.ATerry Jo Madden, Boise State Univ. Lib., ID
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

An impassioned look back at the early days of roundball and the players who took the game from earthbound to airborne via the jump shot. Christgau is a fiction writer (Spoon, 1978) as well as a former All-Conference basketball star (at San Francisco State Univ.), a combination that gives us an author with hoop dreams of crafting ``a story on the origins of creativity itself.'' To do that, he takes readers back to an era when basketball was more like chess played in shorts by a bunch of white dudes. The authors research and enthusiasm are admirable, but his play-by-play is too detailed for all but dyed-in-the-wool fanatics. Christgau does a good job of capturing the ambience of the drafty Minnesota gym at that magic moment in 1944 when Norwegian ski-jumper Myer Skoog ``took one long step that launched him into the air'' during a high-school game. The best of the eight profiles (including three men who later played in the NBA) depicts Gary, Indianas Dave Minor. This champion track star (he set an Indiana record in the high jump that held for 16 years) led his high school team to the states final four in 1941, firing off his innovative jumper despite his own coach screaming, ``I dont want you shootin that shot.'' Minor scored as much as 25 points in some games and was even invited for a game and career with the Globetrotters. ``The Wheelhorse of Steel City,'' instead, went on to college and only in 1951, when the was 31 and the color bar in basketball was finally broken, did he play for Baltimore and Milwaukee in the pros. While a good read, this book would be better as a first chapter in a broader tribute to all the innovators who took the sport to a higher level. A fun road trip to basketballs past, but as far as making the jump shot a grand metaphor for creativity, the ball goes around the rim and out. (16 b&w photos, not seen) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 234 pages
• Publisher: Bison Books (March 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803263945
• ISBN-13: 978-0803263949
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,849,300 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My Uncle Smawley, April 15, 2004

By 

george callender (Virginia Beach, Virginia United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Origins of the Jump Shot: Eight Men Who Shook the World of Basketball (Paperback)

I will readily admit I am somewhat biased. Yes, my Uncle Belus Smawley is "one of the eight" and is on the cover of the book. I think what makes this book a little different is that it explores the beginnings of the sport, at a time when things were truly "simpler." When now even the youngest of players have all the equipment and fancy uniforms, regardless of talent and level of play, in the olden days kids played the sport for its own sake and used whatever happened to be available. As I best remember, I think my uncle and his friends used a bushel basket nailed up against a barn wall instead of a hoop and net.
I remember visiting Uncle Smawley when he was playing for the Baltimore Bullets. Yes, that was some time ago, about 1951 or so. I noticed he had a shelf in his refrigerator filled with bottles of prune juice. When asked about it, he said a local company that sold prune juice advertised in the program, and he was given juice. Nope, no multimillion dollar endorsement contract, just a few bottles of prune juice.
This is obviously a work and labor of love for Mr. Christgau as he knew this book wasn't going to be a runaway best seller; however, Mr. Christgau actually traveled and interviewed the gentlemen in person. I know in Uncle Smawley's case he also interviewed all of his relatives who lived in the area.
If you are interested in basketball, especially its early days, when players actually played because they enjoyed the game, you need to take a look at this book. If you are a basketball aficionado, this book will provide the information about the origins and the early development of the jump shot.
Sadly, Uncle Smawley died about a year ago. Thank you Mr. Christgau for writing this book. Thank you Mr. Christgau for providing an ongoing legacy to a true gentleman, a man who brought himself up out of abject poverty to have a career in professional basketball, and subsequently for 30 years provided guidance for his students as a junior high principal. Uncle Smawley was the type of person who said little, was extremely modest, but left an impression on all who met him.