Letter from William Chase to George Draper (April 3, 1940)

A letter from William R. Chase to George O. Draper, alumni secretary at Springfield College. The letter is dated April 3, 1940. In the letter, William Chase recounts a panel that he sat on for his Church in New Bedford. He states that the panel had three men who played the game of basketball when it was first created. One was Allison R. Dorman who attended the Armory Hill YMCA and said that Naismith experimented with the game with him and the other other boys at the YMCA. The other was George T. Ferguson who said that they played the game during the Summer School of 1891 at Springfield College. A G.T. Ferguson is listed and pictured with the students of the 1891 Summer School.William R. Chase is a member of Class 1893 of Springfield College (then known as International YMCA Training School). He was a member of the first men to ever play the game of basketball in 1891. Chase was born on June 23, 1867 in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Before attending Springfield College, he worked in a music store, a bank, and for an insurance agency. He operated his own insurance business in New Bedford for 50 years before retiring in March, 1947. He died on August 30, 1951