Does anybody know what years the NBA and NCAA started using 3-person crews?

Honestly, I'm not sure. I know that Hank Nichols, John Dabrow, and Bobby Dibbler officiated the 1982 NCAA Championship game between North Carolina and Georgetown. That's the earliest game I have recorded and the earliest I've seen on ESPN Classic.

BTW, by today's standards, those guys need a lot of work! :D

Earl Strom (Stromm?) talks a bit about it in his book. As I recall from reading it, the NBA played with it for a while and let it drop, then tried it again in the early 80's. The second time stuck.

I've been told when 3 man started in the NBA that the C could not call fouls, only OOB & violatons. This was because they brought in a bunch of new guys & didn't trust them with foul calls. This meant there was no rotation, if you started the game at C you finished it at C.

I was thinking I read onetime that the NCAA Championship game between Mich St. & Indiana St. was officiated with a 3-man crew. I think this would've been in 1979. It was Larry Bird vs. Magic Johnson. I'm probably wrong but it seems like this came up before and someone said this was the first year it was used at the D-1 level.