William George Morgan: The Creator of Volleyball

In this 1910 photo, young men play volleyball, a sport that quickly became popular in YMCAs, gymnasiums, and recreation leagues. Public Domain

George Morgan had a boat-building business in Lockport, New York, a city along the Erie Canal. The new waterway had increased the state’s and the country’s economic output, and with the constant shipping traffic, it provided Morgan hard work, but it was good work. His son, William George Morgan (1870–1942), grew up to help with the business.

Morgan developed into a strong young man thanks to the physical demands of boat building. Along the way, he also developed a talent for athletics. In 1891, he attended Mount Hermon Preparatory School in Northfield, Massachusetts. The school had been founded in 1879 by D.L. Moody, one of the 19th century’s most influential Christian evangelists. Moody was also involved with the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), an organization that would greatly influence Morgan’s life.

A colorized photograph of William George Morgan, the inventor of volleyball. (Carlos Mingardi/CC BY SA 4.0)

Meeting Naismith and Stagg

When Morgan arrived at the college prep school, he met James Naismith, a YMCA physical education instructor and inventor of basketball. Naismith was impressed by Morgan’s athletic prowess, so he recruited him to play football at the International YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts. Morgan agreed and played for Amos Alonzo Stagg, who was known as one of the “Grand Old Men of Football,” in his final year at the school in 1891 before he left for the University of Chicago. There, he won seven Big Ten Championships.

Upon graduating in 1894, Morgan accepted a position as the physical education director at the local YMCA in Auburn, Maine. The following year, Morgan returned to Massachusetts and became the physical director at the Holyoke YMCA, a short distance from Springfield. It was here that Morgan began tinkering with the idea for a new game that required athletic skill, but without the violence of football or the “bumping” and “jolting” of Naismith’s basketball.

Creating a New Game

Morgan had played numerous sports, so he decided to create one that would combine an array of them. His ideas came from the rules and methods of handball, baseball, tennis, and basketball.

“In search of an appropriate game, tennis occurred to me, but this required rackets, balls, a net and other equipment, so it was eliminated—but the idea of a net seemed a good one,” Morgan recalled. “We raised it to a height of about 6 feet 6 inches from the ground, just above the head of an average man. We needed a ball; and among those we tried was a basketball bladder but this was too light and too slow. We therefore tried the basketball itself which was too big and too heavy.”

A volleyball maker sewing balls, by photographer Richard Peter, 1959. Deutsche Fotothek of the Saxon State Library / State and University Library Dresden. Deutsche Fotothek/CC BY-SA 3.0 DE

Another sports giant of the era, A.G. Spalding, solved the ball issue. It was at a Spalding sporting goods store in Chicopee, Massachusetts, that the ball was developed. This new ball was leather with a rubber bladder approximately 25 inches in circumference and weighed 9 to 12 ounces.

Once Morgan established the game and written the rules (some of which changed over time), like how many people could be on the court at the same time (six on each side) and the number of consecutive touches by a team (three), he called it “mintonette.”  The game was showcased at a YMCA conference in 1896.

After its demonstration, Alfred T. Halstead, part of the Springfield YMCA faculty, suggested that the game’s name be changed. Since the object of the game was to “volley” the ball back and forth over the net, it should be called “volley ball.” The name stuck, and the only change was in 1952 when it was combined into one word.

A ‘Useful’ Game

By 1900, Morgan had left the YMCA to pursue careers with General Electric and Westinghouse. But, the impact he left on the sports world  remained. Just as Naismith left a lasting legacy with basketball, so has Morgan with volleyball. Volleyball is now one of the world’s most popular team sports, boasting approximately 800 million participants globally. It became an Olympic sport in 1964. Its popular offshoot of “beach volleyball,” which began on California beaches in 1930, became an Olympic sport in 1996.

A friendly 2012 volleyball match between Bulgaria and Serbia. Biso/CC BY-SA 3.0

Fittingly, Morgan was the first person inducted into the Volleyball Hall of Fame, in 1985.

“It seems like a dream to me when I think of the origin of Volleyball and its development,” Morgan said a decade before his death. “I hope its usefulness will continue.”

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