Basketball Number History

My inquiring mind wanted to know a little bit more about the evolution of the basketball jersey numbers so I did my homework and here is what I learned.

We discussed it in an earlier article on the evolution of fabric materials of the basketball uniform that the late Nineteenth-Century attire was the every day wardrobe of players, their street clothes. The sport was designed for winter time so sweaters, loose fitting trousers and sometimes even football jerseys and track suits were worn by athletes using the game of peach baskets as an off season work out for their main sport. The website of ThisBasketballWorld.com suggests that evolution of the uniform was a direct result of popularity and rules revisions.

"The official 1901 catalog of the A.G. Spalding and Brothers sporting goods store offered long padded shorts that ended just below the knee and form-fitting jerseys with quarter-length sleeves along with a sleeveless variant. In 1903, the company introduced specially-designed basketball shoes with suction cups on the soles to prevent slippage on hardwood floors."

The 1904 Olympics used Basketball as a demonstration exhibition and with that the use of teams dying their cotton garments to team colors and being altogether different from their opponents an advancement in the game of the hardcourts. Thus the advent of contrasting colors by opponents in basketball sprouted.

Number make players unique

The use of numbers was growing in many different sports during the Golden Age of Sports in the 1920s. Basketball was no exception and the number proved to be helpful in keeping track of player fouls.

Up until recently there have been restrictions on the use of numbers so that an official could report the number of the offender to the scorer's table with two hands. Rule 1, Section 22, Article 7, Clause b. 2 of the NCAA Men’s Basketball 2020–2021 Rules, “The following numbers are legal: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 00, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, and 55. Team rosters can include 0 or 00, but not both.”

The tradition in high school and college level play has stayed but recently the NBA has expanded the numerals that can be used. The NCAA may need to follow suit in that regard soon too as some schools are facing some issues with only allowing 37 possible player numbers. Duke University has retired 13 player numbers and Michigan State 9, thus limiting the chices by almost a third.

An interesting fact is that once upon a time the single digits of 1 and 2 were not permitted either. There was worry that it may cause too much confusion as to how many foul shots the offended player would be shooting. That rule was eventually abolished allowing a players to wear number 2 or number one on game day.

The advent of using replay equipment at NCAA games and other better communication advancements should provide a way for future hoops stars to wear the integers of 6 through 9.

The college rule also adds that, " Arabic (modern) numbers must be placed on the front and on the back and centered horizontally in the neutral zone, and be the same style, and be a solid color easily seen in the neutral zone. The number must be at least 6 inches high on the back, and 4 inches high on the front and at least 1 inch wide, and may be bordered in a different color not more than 1/2 inch."

The picture in the banner above is from the Wikimedia Commons Collection and is of the Tech basketball team, 1920 taken by the National Photo Company Collection.