Yes - it is true that there once was a rule that a player had to raise his hand to admit he committed the foul. I have heard two school of thought on why this ever was a rule. One was that it made the player come to the realization that he really did commit the foul and accept that fact. The other was that it helped the official identify who committed the foul. I'm not sure either is correct.
Anyway, that rule was dropped right after we switched away from peach baskets - in other words, when I was in high school
