History of 3-person officiating

[ilyazhito]

I read Referee Magazine, and remember that a "Did You Know?" blurb on page 13 of the February 2018 edition stated that a "three-man officiating plan" was adopted for high school basketball in 1895. Obviously, most states started using 3-person crews consistently much later, but this piqued my interest in learning the history of 3-person officiating.

NBA experimented with 3-person in the 1978-79 season, but only adopted it permanently 10 years later, due to cost concerns by owners at the time. The 1988 article from the New York times about this change mentioned that college basketball had used 3-person "for the past several seasons".

Does anyone know anything more specific about when 3-person was adopted in college men's basketball, college women's basketball, or in your local state (province for Canadians, or the equivalent for any international users)? For the record, FIBA only adopted 3-person in 2000. Page 8 of the 2017-18 CCA Manual shows that the 2-person manual for men's basketball was published between 1965 and 2002, and page 10 shows that the 3-person manual has been published since the 1978-79 season (the time of the NBA's first experiment). The first 3-person women's manual was published in 2015, but 3-person may have been used before the manuals were published. I'd like to hear more about this topic from all you history buffs.