Ask, and it shall be given you. (Matthew 7:7)
1963-64 Players who are called for personal fouls are asked to raise their arms to make it easier for the scorer to identify who committed the foul (probably NCAA and/or NBA).
1972 Player who fouls must raise hand (NFHS Handbook)
1974 Fouling player not required to raise hand (NFHS Handbook).
1974-75 The NCAA no longer requires players to raise their hand if called for a foul.
1977-78 The NCAA “strongly recommends” that players called for a foul raise their hand.
Today, players will occasionally voluntarily raise a hand to:
Acknowledge the foul to indicate the call was justified. This has the added benefit of building rapport with the officiating crew.
Acknowledge the foul to indicate it was a purposeful (not intentional) act. This type of foul occurs to stop a fast break, to prevent a highly probable basket (like a breakaway layup), or to put a poor free throw shooter on the line.
Take a call away from a teammate who has more fouls. This occurs when more than one player is involved or in close proximity to an offending player.
So ends today's history lesson.
