NEW YORK (AP) — Ian Naismith, grandson of the inventor of basketball James Naismith, and who ran a foundation in the family name dedicated to promoting youth sports died Tuesday.
The Naismith International Basketball Foundation announced the death on its website and listed Ian Naismith’s age as 72.
Naismith died of a heart attack while on a train journey from western Massachusetts that took him to New York. The NIBF says Naismith was discovered unresponsive after the train had pulled into Penn Station.
The North Carolina-based foundation Naismith ran gained attention in 2010 when it sold James Naismith’s original 13 rules of basketball at auction for more than $4 million to help its work.
