The NYS Assembly Legislative Resolution #1052:
"Recognizing HERKIMER, New York, as the BIRTHPLACE of BASKETBALL, LAMBERT WILL as the game's INVENTOR, and the Mohawk Valley as the game's principal influence in the game's initial adoption" adopted June 1, 2022

THE STORY OF 'HERKIMER 9'
How Our Village's History is Building Our Future

Why 'Herkimer 9'?
​According to the book 'I Grew Up with Basketball' written by Frank J. Basloe, 'The Herkimer 9' was the name of the first basketball team from the Herkimer YMCA. Lambert Will was the first coach/player and was recognized in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame for his contribution of early innovations to the game . The first rim and net have also been traced back to Herkimer. Our goal is to revitalize this block back to 1891 and restore the buildings surrounding the historic four corners. A museum's location is under review to display all the evidence and artifacts regarding the early stages and evolution of basketball. We will also be building a basketball/sports field house to host tournaments and events, as well as establishing sufficient hotel and visitor's quarters, and dining facilitites to support all that visit.
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​About the Book (*)
​For over seventy years an ongoing, and at times heated and emotional, debate over the origins of Basketball has persisted. Though the official historical records state the game was invented in 1891 by Dr. James Naismith, a Canadian educator from Almonte, Ontario who was teaching at Springfield YMCA International Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts, there are those who believe otherwise. Counter to the Naismith narrative, the research and development of this book provide irrefutable evidence of the game being played a year earlier in the Village of Herkimer, New York, as well as across other small communities of New York State’s Mohawk Valley. This book heralds that the game’s origins should be credited to a 16-year-old first-generation Austrian-American boy named Lambert Will, who was a volunteer director of the local Y.M.C.A. and who invented the game of Basketball while tossing cabbages into peach baskets in a root cellar and later at a local General Store in 1890.

BACKGROUND / BACK-STORY: During the decade of the 1950s, while efforts were underway to establish the Dr. James Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts, a bitter war-of-words pitting proponents of Dr. Naismith against those of Lambert Will raged. In the end, the Naismith side, having garnered the support of some within the national media, along with corporate sponsors, major sports organizations, and individuals within professional and collegiate basketball circles, won out. The Dr. James Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame officially opened in Springfield in 1959, with no mention of Herkimer, N.Y., Lambert Will, nor the debate preceding the site's construction. In the eyes of the Dr. James Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and its supporters, the debate was over and their version of history with Naismith as the game's inventor, was cemented in the annals of history.

In the years since, the Herkimer claims and accusations have failed to go away, and the initial evidence has remained a constant thorn-in-the-side of mainstream historians and traditionalists who prefer to promote the Naismith storyline and/or have profited from the Hall of Fame, Naismith’s 13 Basketball Rules document, and the selective branding, and promotion of basketball’s origins history.

For many Herkimer and Lambert Will supporters, having basketball's creation credited to Springfield and Dr. James Naismith is akin to a stolen legacy and a disservice to the historical record. These critics of the Springfield and ‘Nais-Myth’ narrative view the Herkimer-Springfield basketball debate as one that demands resolution and this book is the historical analysis that demands a verdict; and the verdict is to correct the official record by proving that it was Lambert Will who invented Basketball, and the Village of Herkimer, with the support of surrounding communities that formed the game of Basketball.
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About the Book (*)
Frank J. Basloe grew up in Herkimer, New York, where YMCA director Lambert Will developed the game of basketball. Basloe’s classic memoir, I Grew Up with Basketball, offers an eyewitness account of the humble roots of the imposing enterprise that is professional basketball today. At age sixteen, Basloe began his career as a promoter and managed several teams that regularly toured New York, New England, and the Midwest, including the Oswego Indians and Basloe’s Globe Trotters. Until the 1920s and the advent of the New York Original Celtics, New York Renaissance, and Harlem Globetrotters, Basloe’s clubs reigned supreme among barnstormers.

I Grew Up with Basketball is a fascinating and entertaining memoir of basketball’s infancy and, for some, fuels the debate about the game’s true origins by providing a counternarrative to the sanctioned history offered by the Hall of Fame. Though James Naismith’s original concept is acknowledged, Basloe credits YMCA director Will for altering the game to be more exciting and fun to play as well as establishing early rules of play.

This rare firsthand glimpse of the early days of basketball is complimented by Michael A. Antonucci’s introduction, which tracks the game—from Basloe’s Globe Trotters to LeBron James—and its trappings as a business vehicle.
(*)  - As per University of Nebraska Press

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
When Vision Meets Reality

Herkimer 9 - World's Largest Basketball​

Herkimer 9 - Stadium + Event Center

Palmer House Hotel

Quackenbush Factory, Museum, STEAM Learning Center, Incubator Lab, and Business Development Center

To get a general view of the Herkimer 9 initiative, view the below video. This is the "Virtual Walkthrough" of the area of focus "as it will be" when the initiative is complete. It was provided by Delta Engineers, Architects, & Land Surveyors and is well worth the few minutes necessary to take the virtual tour.
Below is the link for downloading the recently published Strategic Redevelopment Plan for North Main Street- Herkimer, NY - authored by Delta Engineers, Architects, & Land Surveyors. This document is the basis on which the above virtual tour is based and will provide a detailed narrative of the vision and results of this initiative / project.
strategic_redevelopment_plan_for_north_main_street-_herkimer_ny_09-01-2020.pdf
File Size: 20277 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Support the Herkimer 9 Foundation

Click here to "join the team" by making a donation to the Herkimer 9 Foundation. 
Above are a set of imagery that is contained in the recently published Strategic Redevelopment Plan for North Main Street- Herkimer, NY - authored by Delta Engineers, Architects, & Land Surveyors. The complete document can be downloaded via the link provided below:
Strategic Redevelopment Plan for North Main Street Herkimer
File Size: 20277 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
Herkimer 9 Foundation
420 East German Street
Suite 18
​Herkimer, NY 13350
(315) 868-2784
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