Inventor and founder of basketball (1861–1939). ALS signed “Ever your loving hubby, Jim,” four pages, lightly-lined on two sets of adjoining sheets, 5.25 x 8.25, on ‘Active Service with the U. S. Naval Forces Operating in European Waters’ letterhead, October 13, 1918. Letter to his wife. In part: “You need not think from the heading that I am on my way home, but I happen to be in a port city so I write on the naval stationery. This P.M. I return to my Hqts where I expect to get a few letters from home. This morning’s paper tells us that Gem. has accepted all terms and I know that this will bring cheer to many hearts, but this does not mean that everything is settled or that we can come home immediately for it may be months before we can return. Indeed in some ways our work is just the most needed. I hope America will prepare to take care of the boys in the right way. The trouble is that she will make a great fuss over them for a couple of weeks then forget all about them. I have a plan that I wish could be carried through to set the boys up when they return and give them a chance to make good…without any idea of charity…I am going out to see a soccer game played between our army and a French team. International athletics are in vogue now, and our work will be more important than ever now.” In very good condition, with missing lower right corner to three of the pages, affecting just a few words of text, uniform toning, and a central horizontal fold passing through signature, with a few pinhole-size areas of paper loss along fold and signature. Despite not yet being an American citizen, Naismith served as a chaplain in the first Kansas Infantry and patrolled the Mexican border for several months of 1916. He was later sent to France, where he served on the front lines and counseled soldiers on sex education and morality, using athletics as a way to maintain and protect soldiers’s morale. His plan, which he would outline in a later letter to his wife, was very similar to what became the G.I. Bill. Naismith is notoriously rare in handwritten letters. Pre-certified Steve Grad/PSA/DNA and RR Auction COA.
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