60 Fun Facts About YMCA

In which city was the Young Men's Christian Association founded?

Its first premises opened on Great Russell Street that same year, and the building was still recognised as the world's first YMCA when it was sold in 2024.

Who founded the YMCA with eleven friends?

He was later knighted for his work, and a Canadian college was named in his honour.

In which year was the YMCA founded?

The date was 6 June, when the founder held the first meeting aimed at improving the spiritual condition of young men in the drapery trade.

What was the trade of the YMCA's founder?

He was typical of the young men pulled into cities by the Industrial Revolution, where the main leisure options were taverns and brothels.

Which sport was invented at the YMCA International Training School in Springfield in 1891?

The brief was a game that was interesting, easy to learn and playable indoors during the New England winter.

Who invented the game played at the Springfield YMCA in December 1891?

He was a clergyman, educator and physician, and he attended the 1936 Olympics to see his game played there for the first time.

What served as the goals in the very first Springfield games of 1891?

They were nailed to the balcony, and the custodian had to fetch each successful shot down with a ladder.

William G. Morgan invented volleyball in 1895 at the YMCA in which Massachusetts city?

He wanted a slower game with less physical contact that older members could play.

What did William G. Morgan originally call his new net game?

He borrowed a tennis net and raised it to 6 feet 6 inches so any number of players could join in.

Futsal, the indoor version of football, was created in 1930 at a YMCA in which country?

Teacher Juan Carlos Ceriani designed it for indoor courts, and a rule book followed in September 1933.

Who invented racquetball at the Greenwich, Connecticut YMCA in 1950?

He was a tennis, handball and squash player working in a rubber factory who could not find squash opponents of his standard.

What name did the inventor of racquetball give his game?

He founded the National Paddle Rackets Association in 1952, and the game spread through some 40,000 handball courts at YMCAs and Jewish Community Centers.

Which American youth organization grew out of YMCA work, with a Chicago YMCA organizer as its first director?

Edgar M. Robinson took the job when the organization incorporated by William D. Boyce still existed only on paper.

In which state was Camp Baldhead, North America's first residential camp (1885), originally located?

It moved twice, ending up on the shore of Lake Champlain near Westport, New York.

Which institution was founded in 1885 as an international training school for YMCA professionals?

During World War II the YMCA helped young Japanese Americans leave internment camps to study there.

Henry Dunant, a young Swiss YMCA secretary, went on to found which organization?

He also pushed Paris to host the first YMCA World Conference in 1855, which created the World Alliance of YMCAs.

In which year did World YMCA president J. R. Mott win the Nobel Peace Prize?

He was honoured for drawing together peoples of many nations and communions, and helped found the World Council of Churches two years later.

The Paris Basis motto "That they all may be one" is taken from which Gospel?

The verse, chapter 17 verse 21, also appears on the open Bible in the World Alliance emblem adopted in 1881.

According to Luther Gulick, the YMCA red triangle's three sides stand for which three things?

Introduced in 1891, the triangle became a familiar sight on the home front and abroad in both world wars.

In which year did YMCA of the USA rebrand itself as "The Y"?

The red-and-black logo was recoloured into five versions at the same time.

The first YMCA in North America opened in 1851 in which city?

Canadian YMCAs were run jointly with the American ones until they formed their own national council in 1912.

The first YMCA in the United States, founded by seaman Thomas Valentine Sullivan, opened in which city?

It opened on 29 December 1851, a few weeks after North America's first branch opened north of the border.

In 1853 the Reverend Anthony Bowen founded the first YMCA for African Americans in which city?

Bowen, born enslaved in Maryland, bought his freedom in 1826 and became the first African-American employee of the US Patent Office; the branch named for him still serves the U Street area.

The first YMCA in Africa was established in 1881 in which country?

That country also produced Charles Dunbar Sherman, elected the first Black president of the World YMCA in 1955 at just 37.

By what abbreviation is the YMCA known in Germany, Austria and Switzerland?

Since 1985 the letters have stood for Christlicher Verein junger Menschen, "young persons" rather than "young men".

What were the 250 YMCA recreation centres set up in Britain within ten days of World War I called?

Temporary versions followed across Europe, run by thousands of volunteers for soldiers and civilians alike.

In World War II the YMCA helped found which body serving US troops?

It also supported millions of prisoners of war and Japanese Americans held in internment camps.

The YMCA grew into a worldwide movement founded on the principles of which Victorian ideal?

The 1865 World Conference in Germany formally affirmed developing the whole person, with sport as a new part of that.

Which social reformer served as the YMCA's first president, from 1851 until his death in 1885?

Anthony Ashley-Cooper, the 7th Earl, was already famous for factory and child-labour reform legislation.

Which 1851 event in Hyde Park helped the YMCA spread beyond Britain?

By the end of that year there were YMCAs in Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Hong Kong, the Netherlands and the United States, among others.

From 1878 until the 2020s, the world YMCA head office was based in which city?

Its new home is Vernier, after 25 years in a listed villa at 12 Clos Belmont.

Sweden's merged YWCA-YMCA promotes itself as KFUM, where the M now stands for människor, meaning what?

The change came in 2011, replacing män (men); the merger of the two Swedish bodies dates to 1966.

Patricia Pelton, elected in 2018 as the first female president of World YMCA, comes from which country?

At the same Chiang Mai World Council, Carlos Sanvee of Togo became the first African secretary general.

The Kautz Family YMCA Archives, the US national archives of the movement, are held where?

More of the collection is digitised through Texas Christian University's repository.

Which sport arrived at the YMCA in 1869, when three branches built buildings with gyms inside?

Most experts at the time were circus performers, who did not quite fit the YMCA's values.

A Canadian college named for the YMCA's founder, born from night courses at a local Y, became part of which institution?

Northeastern University and Youngstown State also trace roots to YMCA classes.

Which disco group released the song "Y.M.C.A." in 1978?

The organization threatened to sue over trademark infringement before settling and later expressing pride in the tribute.

"Y.M.C.A." was the only single from which album?

It was the group's third studio album.

"Y.M.C.A." stalled at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 behind "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" and which Chic song?

It did reach No. 1 in the UK in 1979 and in more than 15 countries overall.

On which TV show did the arm-spelling "Y.M.C.A." dance originate in January 1979?

Randy Jones later said it began as a misunderstanding: the group clapped above their heads and the audience thought they were making a Y.

Which host replayed the song to show the band the audience's hand gestures?

The lead singer copied the moves straight back at the crowd while the rest of the group stared in confusion.

Which lead singer co-wrote "Y.M.C.A." and later won a court ruling that removed a third credited writer?

He insisted the lyric about hanging out with the boys was simply 1970s Black slang, not a gay anthem.

Which producer asked "What exactly is the YMCA?" in the studio and then co-wrote the song on the spot?

He was gay and had originally aimed the group at disco's gay audience before it went mainstream.

In which city's Sun Bowl was the 2008 record for the largest "Y.M.C.A." dance, with 40,148 dancers, set?

The group performed live at the game on New Year's Eve.

For which brand did the group re-record the song in 1997 for a commercial with dancing bears?

The company used the song again months later for its new blue-themed globe imagery.

At Yankee Stadium, the grounds crew leads the crowd in the dance after which inning?

The Bleacher Creatures used to sing a mocking parody over it before agreeing to stop.

In which year was "Y.M.C.A." added to the National Recording Registry and the Grammy Hall of Fame?

The Library of Congress noted the song's ongoing popularity as evidence that disco never truly died.

Roughly how many copies of "Y.M.C.A." have been sold worldwide?

Forty-six years after release it spent six weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales chart in 2024.

The 'Y.M.C.A.' video, shot in New York in 1978, ends by zooming in on which landmark?

Most of the video was filmed outside the McBurney YMCA at 213 West 23rd Street.

Which record label released "Y.M.C.A." in October 1978?

The same label was home to Donna Summer and Kiss at the height of the disco era.

What were the hotel-like rooms for young men in American YMCAs, built until the late 1950s, called?

They became known as a cheap, safe place to stay in an unfamiliar city, a reputation the 1978 song leaned on.

The 1855 Paris conference that adopted the Paris Basis drew 99 delegates from how many countries?

It was held just before the Exposition Universelle, and the World YMCA has convened a World Conference or Council every three to four years since.

Roughly how much did the YMCA raise and spend on welfare for American soldiers during World War I?

YMCA worker Frances Gulick, stationed in France, received a US Army citation for valour on the field.

What was the YMCA's WWII programme supplying POWs with sports kit, instruments and radios called?

The YMCA also supported Japanese Americans in internment camps, helping young men leave to attend Springfield College.

In 1955 Charles Dunbar Sherman became World YMCA's first Black president. Where was he from?

Liberia had also hosted Africa's first YMCA, established in 1881.

The YMCA of the USA developed the first nationally organised course for which activity in 1959?

It certified its first skin and scuba diving instructors that year.

The 1973 World Council, the first held in Africa, adopted principles named after which city?

The Sixth World Council was hosted by Uganda YMCA and reaffirmed the Paris Basis.

In 1940, about how many hotel-like rooms did American YMCAs offer, more than any hotel chain?

US YMCAs were built with 'residences' or dormitories until the late 1950s.

Which YMCA China figure devised the 'thousand character system' of mass literacy education?

In India, K. T. Paul became the first Indian national general secretary and coined the term 'rural reconstruction'.

At which venue was the YMCA's 175th anniversary gathering of young leaders held in August 2019?

Some 3,200 people from 100 countries attended, with the UN General Assembly president among the guests.