Is basketball the one, true "celestial" sport?First-time, nonmember visitors to LDS meetinghouses — especially in the United States — might wonder so. Basketball courts are standard equipment at the buildings, and have been for many decades. Sit in the back overflow area for a crowded sacrament service, look up and you'll likely spot a retractable basketball hoop dangling above.But how did this game gain such prominence among Mormons?Latter-day Saint men, in particular, were apparently hesitant to play basketball in the sport's early days. Basketball was invented in 1891 and spread fairly rapidly across the nation. However, in 1900 basketball at Brigham Young Academy was a women's-only sport. Men didn't seem interested in playing it at first, perhaps because it didn't seem rough enough.The first formal basketball league for boys in Salt Lake City didn't start until 1908. In June 1911, at a conference for Mormon activity leaders, sessions centered on sports such as volleyball, fencing, wrestling, swimming, gymnastics, running and baseball — but not basketball.But the sport eventually emerged.The completion of the downtown Salt Lake Deseret Gymnasium in 1910 showed church leaders cared about sports and recreation. According to the Encyclopedia of Mormonism, there was a competition from 1910 to 1920 between the sports of baseball and basketball — and the latter won out.The first all-church men's basketball tournament was held in 1915, after the organization of the Mutual Athletic Association. Players came from the Salt Lake 15th, 16th, 25th, 28th and Cannon wards. The following year, the 22nd, 26th and Poplar Grove wards joined the tournament.At the time, basketball games were played in ward recreation halls, a structure separate from the ward building. To pay for the equipment, dues were collected and funds were raised from special dances, held after Mutual Improvement Association meetings.Eventually, the association sponsored baseball and football leagues, too.Basketball was created to be an indoor sport. Given the winter season in most of Utah and the Rocky Mountains, it was a perfect indoor activity. Fickle spring conditions would hinder baseball games, but inside basketball games could go on despite inclement weather. The sport also required little space.Cultural halls began being incorporated into new meetinghouses between 1890 and 1920. A connecting foyer and office complex linked the cultural hall with the chapel, a design known by the nicknames "Young's Twin" and "Colonel's Twins."Fred A. Baker, of Ogden, Utah, who served as head of the LDS Church's physical facilities for more than two decades beginning in 1965, recalled his local ward, the Ogden 6th Ward, having a separate gymnasium about 1936. However, the small gym did not allow a full-court experience, and LDS wards mainly used other public gyms to play basketball in.By the late 1930s, "We were flabbergasted when the ward ended up with a full basketball court," Baker said.Baker believes the church's inclusion of basketball courts into meetinghouses came during that time period — post-Great Depression, pre-World War II era.The colonial style of ward chapels was replaced in the 1930s Depression years with a simpler style during the 1940s war years. Then in the 1950s, under President David O. McKay, a new building plan connected the cultural hall to the back of the chapel. However, some stakes were still building separate, stand-alone stake centers — with full-size basketball courts — into the early 1970s."It got too expensive," Baker said of their demise. "We went back to a single building."Some of these stand-alone stake centers with large basketball courts are still in operation, like the one in Hooper, Utah, originally constructed in the late 1960s.Basketball prowess has at times aided church missionary work. For example, in 1949, a team of full-time missionaries, the "Mormones," won a basketball tournament in Mexico City. "Missionaries prominent in Australian Basketball" was a Feb. 23, 1949, Church News headline.All-church tournaments in volleyball, basketball and softball existed for two decades following World War II. By 1962, the church boasted a total of 3,500 basketball teams and some 50,000 players.Church growth in the 1960s made it impractical to continue church-wide athletic events, which were discontinued in 1971. However, regional play continued and by the early 1990s, 552,000 participants played church basketball, with 690,000 playing softball and 207,000 volleyball.Today, some church buildings have carpet, not hardwood, in the cultural hall. Yet the hoops are still there in virtually every meetinghouse — standard fixtures no one questions or raises an eyebrow over.Sources: Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Fred A. Baker, Deseret News Archives
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