The NCAA Banned the Dunk Three Days After Lew Alcindor Won It All

On March 28, 1967, a twenty-member subcommittee of the National Basketball Committee of the United States and Canada voted to make it illegal in college and high school basketball to shoot the ball from directly above the rim. Three days earlier, a seven-foot UCLA sophomore named Lew Alcindor — later Kareem Abdul-Jabbar — had won the NCAA championship in his first varsity season, having led the Bruins to a 30-0 record.

The stated reason was that dunking gave the defense no chance to block the shot, and that the move was causing injuries and broken rims. Players around the country called it something else: the Lew Alcindor rule. Alcindor was the most dominant freshman the college game had seen, and the timing of the vote was not subtle.

The penalty in 1967 was loss of the basket and the ball; two years later, the offending player also took a technical. A made dunk became a turnover.

Alcindor, denied his easiest two points, spent the next two seasons turning the absence into the most unstoppable shot in the sport's history. He extended his range, refined his footwork, and built the skyhook — a one-armed, sweeping hook released from a point even seven-footers couldn't reach. UCLA went 88-2 over his three varsity years and won three straight titles.

The ban was lifted in 1976. The skyhook came with him to the NBA and stayed there for twenty seasons. The rule meant to slow him down handed him the move that defined a career.