The photo of the day is and image of the first basketball team at the University of New Mexico in 1903 contributed by the UNM Digital Libraries - State of New Mexico. The picture is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Our research finds evidence that UNM established basketball as a varsity sport in 1898, a mere seven years after the invention of the sport by Dr. James Naismith, thousands of miles away on the other side of the country in Springfield, Massachusetts. This first squad, though, was a woman's team, and four years later, Lobo's first men's squad, shown above incorporated as an official athletic team at the school. According to UNMAlumni.com, the first class to graduate from higher education was in 1894.
If you look closely at the players' attire, they look more aptly dressed to play a football game rather than a basketball contest. That might be pretty close to the truth. The first Lobos gridiron team took the field in 1892 in a game facing Albuquerque High to make a two-game season. Sadly, the collegians lost both games to the academic stars and could not even produce a single point as they blanked 0-5 and 0-8. Ouch!
If you remember, Naismith originally intended to create a sport that the football team could play in the winter months to stay in shape. These men pictured were football players that kept their training regimen up by running the hardcourts. They donned the only athletic wear they knew, the long canvas pants and sweaters of the football season.
