James Naismith
Dr. James Naismith was a Canadian physical educator, physician, chaplain, sports coach and innovator. He invented the sport of basketball in 1891. He wrote the original basketball rulebook and founded the University of Kansas basketball program. Naismith lived to see basketball adopted as an Olympic demonstration sport in 1904 and as an official event at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, as well as the birth of the National Invitation Tournament and the NCAA Mens Division I Basketball Championship .
Naismith was born in 1861 in Almonte , Ontario, Canada. He never had a middle name and never signed his name with the A initial. The A was added by someone in the administration at the University of Kansas. In 1982 Dr. Naismiths only living child stated that his father never had the middle initial A. The Basketball Hall of Fame also clarifies this as do other members of his family and personal friends of his. Noted historian Curtis J. Phillips has done extensive research on the subject.
Source: Wikipedia