Our Personalized Girls Basketball Gifts Christmas Ornaments
are 7½ inches long. The Personalized Sports Ornaments hang from a 3 inch loop of red satin ribbon. The basketball ornaments show a young girl, wearing a youth baseball uniform, and white basketball shoes with white socks, jumping up to make a lay up shot. These Unique Christmas Ornaments basketball jersey is red with stripe around the neck and armholes and down each side. She has her hair in pigtails with red ribbons. There is a white 1 1/8 x 7/8 inch nameplate, with red edging, at the bottom of the personalized baseball gifts Christmas ornaments for adding a name and or date. Select to see a complete listing of our Christmas Decorations Ideas.

History of Professional Basketball.
The first professional basketball league was the six team National League, formed in 1898. It lasted for five seasons. The Buffalo Germans, founded in 1895, dominated early professional basketball. The team won 111 straight games from 1908-1910. The most famous professional team of the early 1900’s was the Original Celtics of New York City, founded in 1918. They won 720 of 795 games from 1921 to 1928.
The American Basketball League was formed in 1925 with teams from the East and Midwest. The league disbanded in 1931 and reformed in 1933 with teams concentrated in the East. A primarily midwestern league called the National Basketball League or NBL was organized in 1937. The Basketball Association of America or BAA was formed in 1946. The NBL and BAA merged in 1949 to form the National Basketball Association.
During the 1920’s and 1930’s two all black professional teams dominated their competition. The teams were the New York Renaissance Big Five, called the Rens and the Harlem Globetrotters. Because professional leagues were segregated, the Rens and Globetrotters were forced to play exhibition games. The Globetrotters still play today.
In 1950, Chuck Cooper signed with the Boston Celtics, becoming the first black player in the NBA. In a short time, black players were on teams throughout the NBA. Some of the most outstanding players of the 1950’s and 60’s were Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson and Elgin Baylor. Bill Russell led the Boston Celtics to 11 NBA titles from 1957 to 1960.
In 1967 a professional league called the American Basketball Association was formed, which merged with the NBA in 1976, forming a 22 team league. Check out our selection of Collectible Santa Figurines.