Human Calculator Scott Flansburg's dream of semi-professional basketball playing in Herkimer comes to a reality on Saturday. The Herkimer Originals open their season at home on Saturday night at Herkimer College against the Roc City Lions of Rochester.

Flansburg has created the Herkimer 9 which intends to restore the history that makes claim that key elements of the game of basketball were actually invented and first-played in Herkimer.

The name Herkimer Originals and its logo “originated” with the fact that Herkimer, NY was the origin of the game of basketball: Lambert Will was the inventor and drove the rules development; the first game (on Feb 7, 1891); the first rim and net (knitted by Lambert Will’s mother), and the first backboard in 1893; all from the Village of Herkimer and surrounding communities.

 

Courtesy Herkimer Originals.
Courtesy Herkimer Originals.
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The Originals "hooped logo" was developed by rock legend Alice Cooper, who's a friend of Flansburg, Flansburg says that Cooper added a great deal of creative inspiration for the Human Calculator as he's plotted the basketball goals for the village of Herkimer.

 

 

Flansburg has plans for youth basketball tournaments to be held in Herkimer, along with a museum, a field house, and even an attempt at a Guinness World record for the world's largest basketball. It's all a part of his plan to set the record straight when it comes to how the game of basketball was actually developed.

The Herkimer Originals will play 26 games between now and March 26th, with hopes of competing in the American Basketball Association national tournament. The ABA is not affiliated at all with the original American Basketball Association major league which merged with the NBA in 1978.

The Originals are made up of a group of college basketball players, many of whom played on championship teams at MVCC and Herkimer College.

Saturday night's games includes a Halloween costume party for kids and tickets can be purchased here.

See 39 Spectacular Photos of This 18,000 Sq. Ft. Upstate NY Mansion

Located just off the New York State Thruway in Little Falls, NY, is the historic Burrell Mansion, built between 1886 and 1889 by inventor D. H. Burrell. The estate is now being restored to its original luster and is being used for events, filming and corporate retreats.

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