Three-Point Shot - When Was It Introduced in High Schools?

[coach41]

An odd ball question for folks who have been around for a while.....when was the 3 point shot officially introduced into high school games?

I ask mainly because I remember playing 8th Grade CYO ball back in the 1987-1988 season and we had no three point shot. There were several games where we lost where a three point shot would have been very handy.

It wasn't until at least the 1989-1990 season that I remember the CYO league introducing the three point shot (I was a volunteer coach then). I presume this was in response to the high schools introducing the 3 point shot.

I like to joke around with friends and stuff that I am "so old" that I played basketball before there was a three point line....even though it was only CYO ball.

[Tim C]

"20 years ago (1986-87): The three point shot is implemented for high school basketball after five years of successful experimentation. The rule change made by the NFHS Basketball Rules Committee, was put in effect for the 1987-88 season. The line was placed in a 19-feet-9 radius measured from the center of the hoop." *

Regards,

* Source: NFHS News Vol 24. #8 -- May 2007 -- Page 29.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by Tim C

"20 years ago (1986-87): The three point shot is implemented for high school basketball after five years of successful experimentation. The rule change made by the NFHS Basketball Rules Committee, was put in effect for the 1987-88 season. The line was placed in a 19-feet-9 radius measured from the center of the hoop." *

Regards,

* Source: NFHS News Vol 24. #8 -- May 2007 -- Page 29.

Yup, 1987-88. My first year of working basketball.

[Adam]

When I was in 8th grade (also during the 87-88 season), we didn't use the three-point shot either. But that's because ms games don't utilize the shot in Iowa, even though the rule would have included it then and the courts we played on would have had the line.

[JRutledge]

I believe the rule was instituted 1986-87 which was my freshman hear in HS. The NF (I believe, I did not know what that was at the time) took on the rule the same year the NCAA did. In the 1986 Final Four when Louisville won with "Never nervous" Pervis Ellison as a freshman, there was no 3 point line. I remember the following year that Denny Crum the coach of Louisville complained about the rule because his team was not dominating the same way. I think Louisville did not almost make the tournament in 1987 and that could be attributed to their lack of adjustment to the rule. Indiana won the national championship the following year and Steve Alford broke school records with the 3 point line and it was a big factor in the NC game with Syracuse that year.

Peace

[coach41]

OH WOW - So it's been 20 years since the NF implemented the 3-point shot?

Hard to believe there's so much history from that year. When I played basketball for my grammar school back in 1987-1988, it was the first organized team from the school in many years (not sure how many). My school had a good history of basketball with the creation of a traveling Chinese adult squad back in the 1950's called the "San Francisco Saints".

Thanks to our 8th grade team being formed in 1987-1988, the school revived it's sports program and it's alive (though hardly kicking) in 2007.

As far as the gyms being striped for 3 point shots....I don't think the majority of the gyms I played in 1987-1988 were striped. The only exceptions (and I don't really remember that far) might have been when we played at a Catholic High School for our first regular season game. If the NF implemented the 3 point shot back in 1987-1988, I would presume the high school gym would have been striped properly.

Also, we played a CYO game at historic Kezar Pavilion where the SF Warriors played for a few seasons. Obviously, Kezar was striped since an NBA team played there and perhaps local high school squads as well during that time.

However, I definitely remember that bu 1989-1990 season that the CYO gyms were striped for three point shots.

[Junker]

I was also in HS when the 3 point shot was added. One gym in our conference was so small the arc ran oob in the corners. It didn't make a difference for me as a player. I couldn't shoot anyway...or pass...or dribble...or well you get the picture.

[NDRef]

North Dakota used the 3-pt goal starting in the 82-83 season for its Class A division. We were one of the original experimental states.

[Nevadaref]

The NFHS adopted the three-point for the 1987-88 season. It says so on page 16 of the 2002-04 NFHS Basketball Handbook which was published in 2002.

BTW I played with it my freshman year in HS which was the 1989-90 season.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

BTW I played with it my freshman year in HS which was the 1989-90 season.

Boy does that explain a lot.

Peace

[Mark Dexter]

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

The NFHS adopted the three-point for the 1987-88 season. It says so on page 16 of the 2002-04 NFHS Basketball Handbook which was published in 2002.

BTW I played with it my freshman year in HS which was the 1989-90 season.

Better watch out - your mandatory retirement age is sneaking up.

[Nevadaref]

Yep, and I don't really mind. I will have had my time and will be ready to pass it on to someone else and take joy in watching them.

[Adam]

A lot easier to say at 32 than it will be at 45.

[Stat-Man]

It was definitely 1987-88 for high school ball - that was my Freshman year.

in fact, my freshman year yearbook has pictures form 1986-87 in it, and you can see the floor did not have the markings on it yet.