James Naismith (November 6, 1861 – November 28, 1939) was a Canadian and naturalized American sports coach and innovator. Naismith invented the sport of basketball in 1891 and is often credited with introducing the first football helmet. Naismith wrote the original basketball rulebook, founded the University of Kansas basketball program, and lived to see basketball adopted as an Olympic demonstration sport in 1904 and as an official event in 1936. Naismith's contributions to basketball have earned him several posthumous enshrinements, such as in the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame, the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame, the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame, the Ontario Sports Legends Hall of Fame, the Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame, the McGill University Sports Hall of Fame, the Kansas State Sports Hall of Fame and the FIBA Hall of Fame. The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame carries his name.

Naismith was born in 1861 in Ramsay Township, near Almonte, Ontario, Canada. Struggling in school but gifted in farm labour, Naismith spent his days outside playing catch, hide-and-seek or duck on a rock, a medieval game in which a person guards a large drake stone from opposing players, who try to knock it down by throwing smaller stones at it. To play duck on a rock most effectively, Naismith soon found out that a soft lobbing shot was far more effective than a straight hard throw, a thought which later proved essential for the invention of basketball. Orphaned early in life, Naismith lived with his aunt and uncle and attended grade school at Bennies Corners near Almonte before visiting the local Almonte High School, where he graduated in 1883.

In the same year, Naismith entered McGill University in Montreal. Although described as a slight figure, standing 5 foot 10 ½ and listed at 168 pounds, he was a talented and versatile athlete, representing McGill in Canadian football, soccer and gymnastics. He played center on the football team, introduced the first football helmet into regular play and won multiple Wicksteed medals for outstanding gymnastics performances. Naismith earned a BA in Physical Education (1888) and a Diploma at the Presbyterian College in Montreal (1890). From 1891 on, Naismith taught physical education and became the first McGill director of athletics, but then left Montreal to become a physical education teacher at the YMCA International Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts. Naismith is also a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity.