And he appeared on a radio show to recall the birth of basketball, in 1891.

That short interview, on the upbeat program “We the People,” may be the only existing recording of Naismith’s voice. But it surfaced from the WOR-AM archives only as Michael J. Zogry conducted research for a book about the influence of religion on Naismith’s life.

Image Naismith in 1939 when he denounced modern trends in basketball like the zone defense. “I feel, at times, I’d rather not see basketball,” he said. Credit... Associated Press

In the two-and-a-half-minute recording, which originally aired on Jan. 31, 1939, Naismith reminisced about the first basketball game, played in Massachusetts at what is now Springfield College by students forced inside by the winter weather. The inaugural contest became a melee, with little pretense to civility or resemblance to the game that basketball would become.

“I showed them two peach baskets I’d nailed up at each end of the gym, and I told them the idea was to throw the ball into the opposing team’s peach basket,” Naismith said in an accent influenced by his Canadian upbringing and many years in Kansas. “I blew a whistle, and the first game of basketball began.”

But “the boys began tackling, kicking and punching in the clinches,” Naismith said. “They ended up in a free-for-all in the middle of the gym floor.”

The injury toll: several black eyes, one separated shoulder and one player knocked unconscious. “It certainly was murder,” Naismith told the show’s host, Gabriel Heatter.