Basketball

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On November 22, 1950, the lowest scoring game in NBA history was played. The Fort Wayme Pistons defeated the Minneapolis Lakers, 19 - 18. George Mikan had 15 of the Lakers' points. Source: Los Angeles Times

Basketball was originally played with a soccor ball and the first designated basketballs were brown. Citing the brown basketball's poor visibility to both players and fans, coach Tony Hinkle, of Butler University, developed the orange basketball in the late 1950s. It is still in use today. Source: Los Angeles Times

The first collegiate basketball game for women was played at Smith College in 1892.

In 1894, A. G. Spalding & Bros. in Chicopee, Massachusetts invented the first official basketball. The first balls were made of panels of leather that were stitched together over a rubber bladder.

Did basketballs used to have laces?
The concealed-lace basketball was introduced in 1927. Before the concealed lace, the ball bounced at unexpected angles when the lacing hit the floor.

The Harlem Globetrotters once played before an audience of one – in 1931, before Pope Pius XI.

Who was the first African-American to play in an NBA game?

Earl Lloyd was the first black ever to play in an NBA game when he took the floor for the Washington Capitols on October 31, 1950 in Rochester, New York. Lloyd was one of three blacks to become NBA players in the 1950 season. The other two were Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton, who was signed by the New York Knicks, and Chuck Cooper, who was drafted by the Boston Celtics. Cooper debuted the night after Lloyd.