The Naismith Trophy is a

trophy A trophy is a tangible, decorative item used to remind of a specific achievement, serving as recognition or evidence of merit. Trophies are most commonly awarded for sports, sporting events, ranging from youth sports to professional level athlet ...

awarded to the men's champion of the

FIBA Basketball World Cup The FIBA Basketball World Cup is an international basketball competition between the senior List of men's national basketball teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIBA, International Basketball Federation (FIBA), the sport's globa ...

, and is named in honor of

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

's inventor,

James Naismith James Naismith (; November 6, 1861November 28, 1939) was a Scottish-Canadian-American physical educator, physician, Christian chaplain, and sports coach, best known as the inventor of the game of basketball. After moving to the United State ...

. The trophy was first awarded to the winner of the 1967 FIBA World Championship. The current version of the trophy was awarded for the first time at the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup.

History

As early as the first tournament in 1950,

FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French language, French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. FIBA defines the rules of basketball, specifies the Basketball equipment ...

had decided to name the trophy in honor of Naismith, but did not have the funds to create the trophy. Finally, in 1965, FIBA received a US$1,000 donation and commissioned a trophy. The trophy was introduced at the 1967 tournament, and was awarded to the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, which won the first of their three FIBA World Championship titles at the tournament. The original trophy was remodeled, and a new, updated trophy was introduced for the 1998 FIBA World Championship. The original trophy now sits at the

Pedro Ferrándiz Pedro Ferrándiz González (20 November 1928 – 7 July 2022) was a Spanish basketball coach. He is most famous for coaching Real Madrid basketball club in the 1960s and 1970s. The International Olympic Committee awarded him the Olympic Order ...

Foundation in Spain. The new Naismith Trophy was forged by Goldsmith master Günter Schoebel, who came from

Bad Kreuznach Bad Kreuznach () is a town in the Bad Kreuznach (district), Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a spa town, known for its medieval bridge dating from around 1300, the Alte Nahebrücke (Bad Kreuznach), Alte Nahebrücke, ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. The design of the trophy was inspired by the travels of long-time FIBA Secretary General

Renato William Jones Renato William Jones (5 October 1906 – 22 April 1981), also known as R. William, or simply William Jones, was an Italian-born British basketball executive and popularizer of basketball in Europe and in Asia. He held an honorary doctorate from ...

. This version was presented to the World Champions from

FR Yugoslavia The State Union of Serbia and Montenegro or simply Serbia and Montenegro, known until 2003 as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and commonly referred to as FR Yugoslavia (FRY) or simply Yugoslavia, was a country in Southeast Europe locate ...

for the first time following the Finals on 9 August 1998 in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

. The top part of the 1998 version of the Naismith Trophy has a lotus flower design. The decagonal rotating middle piece, with carved maps of the continents and precious stones inlaid, symbolizes the five continents. Black onyx, yellow citrine, green chyrsopase, red garnet and blue topaz represent all the regions in the world. Jones was particularly enamored with Egypt; the lotus design was inspired by the Temples of Karnak, and Dr. Naismith's name is engraved on all four sides, in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

and

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

scripts,

Chinese characters Chinese characters are logographs used Written Chinese, to write the Chinese languages and others from regions historically influenced by Chinese culture. Of the four independently invented writing systems accepted by scholars, they represe ...

, and

Egyptian hieroglyphs Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs ( ) were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt for writing the Egyptian language. Hieroglyphs combined Ideogram, ideographic, logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with more than 1,000 distinct char ...

. The 975/1000

sterling silver Sterling silver is an alloy composed mass fraction (chemistry), by weight of 92.5% silver and 7.5% other metals, usually copper. The sterling silver silver standards, standard has a minimum millesimal fineness of 925. ''Fineness, Fine silver'' ...

on the upper and lower parts – gold plated on the inside – and the 14-carat yellow gold middle part, make the cup particularly valuable and precious. The base is made of Rosa Porrino granite, and measures 20 x 20 centimeters (7.9 inches). The top of the cup has a circumference of 21 centimeters (8.3 inches). Standing 47 centimeters tall (18.5 inches), the trophy weighs . A new version of the Naismith Trophy was unveiled on 7 May 2017, during the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup Qualifiers Draw Ceremonies. The trophy, which stands about 60 centimeters high (13 cm. higher than the 1998 version), is made almost entirely out of gold, and features the names of the previous world cup champions at the base. FIBA's original name (Federation Internationale de Basketball Amateur) is also engraved at the trophy's "hoop". The trophy was designed by the creative agency Radiant Studios Ltd, and handcrafted by the silversmith Thomas Lyte.2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup trophy
FIBA.com

Winners

* Original trophy ** –

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...

, 1974, 1982 ** –

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

, 1990 ** – 1986,

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

* Remodel **

–

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

** –

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

** –

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

* Redesign ** –

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

** –

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

Gallery

FIBA World Cup 2023 Trophy Tour - Jakarta - Naismith Trophy (Front).jpg, Engraving on the base of the redesigned trophy FIBA World Cup 2023 Trophy Tour - Jakarta - Naismith Trophy (Past Winners).jpg, Names of past winners on the redesigned trophy

References

External links

FIBA.com page
{{International basketball FIBA Basketball World Cup Basketball trophies and awards

History

Winners

Gallery

See also

References

External links