Player Raising His/Her Hand When They Commit a Foul

[Freddy]

Originally Posted by bainsey

Did the officials report the fouls, too, back then?

Yes. The raised hand was supposed to assist the scorekeeper with confirmation of who committed the foul.

Furthermore, as an indication of how things changed since then, there was a lot more "Yep, I did it" kinda attitude common with players back then. Hardly ever did we have to tell a player to raise his/her hand. When the birddog nailed them, they most normally fessed up, the hand was raised and lowered, the foul was reported, and life went on.
Usually followed soon by a jump ball.