Throughout the history of the game of basketball, certain players have held enormous physical advantages that completely changed the way the game was played on both offense and defense. These players were so dominant that they caused many rule changes, rule changes that were supposed to reduce the dominance of these gifted players to make their style of play a bit fairer to other players. Most of these rule changes were originally instituted in NCAA, or NBA games, but these changes eventually trickled down to NFHS rules.
Wilt Chamberlain (Kansas 1956-1958, NBA 1959-1973), the seven foot, one inch, 275 pound All-American Kansas Jayhawks center’s impact on the game of basketball was reflected in the fact that he was directly responsible for several rule changes. He’s credited with a rule change regarding inbounding the ball by front court inbounders standing behind the endline underneath their basket. His teammates would routinely inbound the ball by lobbing the ball over the backboard where Chamberlain would catch the lob pass and dunk the ball into the basket for an easy score. In 1956, the NCAA, followed by the NFHS in 1957, ruled that the ball is out of bounds when it passes over a rectangular backboard (in either direction).
Since James Naismith invented the game of basketball and codified its rules in the late nineteenth century players have gotten taller, bigger, stronger, and faster, completely changing the way the game is played on both offense and defense. Rules have evolved over the years to provide equal opportunities between the offense and the defense, and between small players and tall players. That being said, as the game of basketball moves into the future rules must continue to evolve in response to changing player skills and changing team tactics. In the words of Winston Churchill, “To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often".