after taking the ball out of bounds, had ten seconds to get it over the half court line, if they did not get it over they would lose their possession of the ball. Also after they established possession in their half of the court they could not go back to the other half while they still had possession of the ball. This rule was put in to cut down on stalling. The next year reentering the game twice was made legal. And finally the last rule change during the early years of basketball was the installation of the three second violation. This rule stated that no player without the ball could stay in the free throw lane for longer than three seconds without the ball. There were also many changes in the equipment during the early years of basketball. For instance, in 1893 the Narragansett Machinery Company of Providence, RI developed and marketed the first iron rim with a rope basket to catch the ball. Nets that were open at the bottom were not adopted until 1913. In 1894 the first basketball was marketed. Up until now a soccer ball was used to play the game. The first basketballs were thirty two inches in circumference and were laced. But in 1849 when the laceless ball was made official, the circumference of the ball was reduced from thirty two inches two thirty. In 1895 teams began putting four by six foot screen behind the baskets to keep the spectators from hitting the ball in or out of the hoop and soon after this screen was replaced by wood which also served as a backboard. The opaque glass backboard was legalized in 1908 and the fan shaped backboard was legalized in 1940 and transparent glass backboards were legalized in 1946. Lastly in 1940 the baseline was moved back four feet to reduce the frequent stepping out of bounds. The invention of basketball lead to a giant surge in the membership of YMCAs. However a gym that could accommodate fifty to sixty students was now being used by only ten to eighteen students. ...
