William G. Morgan

William G. Morgan ( born January 23, 1870 in Lockport, New York, † December 27, 1942 ibid ) was the inventor of volleyball, which he originally called " Mintonette " called.

Life

William G. Morgan had worked as a boy, first in the boat building company of his father, George Henry Morgan, who had emigrated from Wales to the United States, and Nancy Chatfield Morgan from Northfield, Vermont, married. At 14, Morgan ran away from home to hire a boat boy on ships of the line of the Great Lakes in the north of the USA. In order to arrive at an education, he sought and found refuge in the Mount Hermon School in Northfield, Massachusetts. In the school choir Morgan met his future wife, Mary King Caldwell, know.

In the autumn of 1891 Morgan learned during a football match James Naismith know, the inventor of basketball game. Naismith was assistant coach of the football team of the International YMCA Training School at the " School for Christian Workers ", now Springfield College. He was fond of the big, strong player, and asked him if he was not at the Training School of the YMCA - wanted to change ( Young Men's Christian Association YMCA ). He campaigned with the artistic possibilities, the subject of the Christian proclamation in the sport and with the management training in Springfield. In addition, Springfield had at that time with Amos Alonzo Stagg a legendary football coach.

1892 Morgan moved to Springfield, where he studied until 1894. There, he also learned the new game basketball know. In Springfield James Naismith was hanged in 1891, the first baskets in the gym. During his time in Springfield Morgan married on October 7, 1893 Mary King Caldwell.

As of September 1894, Morgan as "Physical Director" for sports, first at the YMCA of Auburn, Maine, responsible, from mid- 1895 to mid- 1897 at the YMCA of Holyoke, Massachusetts. In Holyoke Morgan developed the new game, which he called " Mintonette ". After one last stop at the YMCA of Lockport, New York, Morgan left the Christian Association and worked as a salesman for the company General Electric and Westinghouse.

Morgan and his wife had one daughter and four sons: Lillian Exsie Morgan ( Springfield, 1894-1989 ), Rufus George Morgan ( Auburn, 1895-1925 ), Robert William Morgan ( New Haven, Connecticut, 1897-1968 ), James Phillip Morgan ( Lockport, 1899-1972 ) and Richard Caldwell Morgan ( 1911-1982 ). According to Springfield, where he had introduced in 1896 the new game, he came only in 1938 again. The worldwide success of the game he invented after the Second World War, he never lived to see. On his grave stone in the cemetery of Glenwood is: " MORGAN, William G., 1870-1942 Inventor of Volleyball ."

Invention of volleyball

The December 1895 is considered as date of birth of volleyball. In Springfield William G. Morgan had met the rapid and intense basketball. In his sports work at the YMCA in Holyoke with many workers in the middle age, provided him with a problem: "Basketball seemed suitable for younger men, but there was the need for something for the elderly, which was not so rough and exhausting. I thought of tennis, but because you needed bats, balls, a net and other equipment, "he wrote years later for the magazine Spalding 's Athletic Library. The idea to separate the sides by a tennis net remained: " We raised it to a height of 6 feet 6 inches above the ground to just above the head of an average man. "

A certain influence on Morgan's new game had next to basketball, handball and tennis early (network ), the fist ball, the immigrants had brought with him from Germany. He took from Badminton ( shuttlecock ) in the name: " Mintonette ". Morgan's rules for Mintonette were: A light ball, a field of 25 to 50 foot size and 6 feet 6 inches ( 1.98 m) high tennis net. The number of players was not fixed. A match was composed of nine innings, each team was allowed to pitch three times. The number of ball touches before the ball was played back over the net was not limited.

The ball had been a problem: basketballs were too heavy, so Morgan had experimented with the bubble of basketballs. But were too light and too slow.

The ball according to his ideas he got from the resident in Springfield sporting goods company Albert G. Spalding & Bros., until now a global brand. Until now correspond volleyballs essentially Morgans of Spalding obtained first ball

When Luther Gulick, the founder of sports education at the YMCA Training School, the athletic director of the YMCA local associations invited to a meeting, Mintonette was presented to students in Springfield on July 7, 1896. The first volleyball game five firemen were playing against five municipal employees. Alfred T. Halstead, Professor in Springfield, was impressed by the game, but not of Morgan's chosen name. In the new game " hagle " it ( volley engl.: hail or rifle volley ) balls, Halstead said, so why not the game is also the same as, namely, " volley ball " call?

To a wider public for the magazine Physical Education the new game in its July issue 1896 as follows: " volley ball [sic ] is a new game that is particularly suitable for the gym, but which can be played outdoors. Any number of players can play. The game consists of keeping a ball over a high net on the move, which it has trains from tennis and handball. "

90 years after the first volleyball game you have established in Holyoke in 1985 with Morgan as the first honorary member of a "Volleyball Hall of Fame".