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Someplace, I think in the Basketball Handbook that the NFHS puts out in years that they don't do the Official's Manual, there is a history of this.
Apparently, originally, every foul got a penalty of one free throw. It became quickly apparent that this was NOT the best penalty for fouls on the shot, so the two-free-throws penalty was established for those. Later, folks felt that if a team kept fouling a lot, the penalty should increase, so they added "the bonus" for the 7th foul and after. Then, people felt that there was too much time taken for free throws, and especially for free throws on offensive fouls -- everyone walks to the other end, etc. So they took away all free throws for offensve fouls, and any free throws on the first six defensive, non-shooting fouls. (That's why that second shot on the 7th foul is called "the bonus" which I never understood. Seemed to me that the first shot was also a bonus.) Finally, it seemed that again the penalties were un-fair with no free-throws for any offensive fouls, so they gave all those back, except for fouls by the ball-handler.
It intrigues me that the NCAA has the "team-control" foul thing now with no free-throws for offensive fouls -- seems like a step backwards in a way, but of course it's not. It's just the next circle in the spiral.
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