It’s hard to imagine the game of basketball without the three-point shot. As the sport has evolved over the last 40 years, it has become an integral part of the game and to teams’ success on the court. Today, many teams even have three-point specialists, whose sole job is to enter the game and knock down clutch triples when the team needs a boost.

Of course, basketball wasn’t always played this way. For a long period of time, the game was dominated by the big man, but basketball pioneers sought change. They wanted to give opportunity to players of all shapes and sizes to contribute and thus the three-point shot was born.

Discuss the inventor of the 3-point shot in our forum

However, although the shot was formerly introduced to the pro game with the ABA in the 1970s, it’s not entirely clear who first came up with the idea. As cited in our “History and Inventor(s) of the Three-Point Shot” piece, there are several possible inventors.

In 1933, high school coach Herman Sayger attempted to introduce a point system based on shot distance, which included a three-point shot, but his system was never adopted. Then in 1945, NCAA Rules Committee member Howard Hobson suggested what he called a “bonus shot” for college basketball and although it was tested in a game, it was never permanently adopted either.

Some credit Eddie Rios Mellado – a native of Puerto Rico who created a three-point line for a children’s league and later implemented it into a 1962 tournament. However, when the ABA introduced the line, it did not cite Mellado’s line as a source of inspiration or credit him as the official inventor.

Now, we can add another possible inventor to this group. Based on clippings from 1952 editions of the The New Hampshire Union-Leader submitted by Interbasket reader Ryan Blair, we are learning that former St. Anselm College coach Al Grenert suggested the idea of introducing a three-point line 21 feet from the basket – which is approximately the current distance of the three-point arc in the NCAA – to the college game in the early 1950s.

Grenert proposed the line as a way to even the playing field between bigger and smaller players.

“There is no such thing as a good little man on the court today,” Grenert told the The Union-Leader in 1952. “College scouts, who stream into New York every year to pick up the top schoolboy stars, no longer ask how good a prospect is. All they want to know is how tall he is.”

In the article, Grenert warned that unless some rule changes were made, smaller players would lose interest in the sport entirely. Here was his official rule proposal in 1952:

“The revision I would like to see would have all baskets scored from 21 feet out on the court count three points and those within the 21-foot arc count as two. This would give the small players, who usually are outstanding set shots, an advantage that would help offset their handicap up close to the basket. It would also bring back defensive play to the game.”

When proposing this historic rule change, Grenert had all aspects of the game in mind, including defense, the perspective of the spectator and the game’s entertainment value.

“The team on defense would have to move out to counter the threat of a three-point effort,” Grenert said. It would open up the game, pull it away from the baskets and give the spectators much more than they see today.”

Grenert also correctly predicted that the inclusion of the three-point arc would create more unsung heroes and contributors to the team victory. In the past 20 years, we’ve seen the three-point specialist take on a crucial role on NBA teams. Players like Steve Kerr, Craig Hodges, Kyle Korver and many more have helped their teams win by perfecting the long-range, but valuable three-point basket.

In fact, it seems like Grenert was right about a lot of things. The game needed changing, but unfortunately, he was ahead of his time.

Although the Union-Leader reported that Grenert’s proposal was well received by other coaches and basketball writers, the NCAA did not formerly introduce the three-point line until 1986, though the Southern Conference adopted it in 1980. And though the modern line is almost identical to the one Grenert proposed back in 1952, there is no evidence that the NCAA, ABA or NBA used his idea in creating the rule.

Whether we credit Grenert or not, we have to assume that some of his message got through and there’s no doubt that the rule has had a major impact on the game. More and more teams and players rely on the three-point shot to score points and the rule has certainly made the game more accepting to smaller players who can shoot. It’s hard to think of the NBA without a dynamic sharp-shooter like Stephen Curry, who recently set the single-season record for most made triples.

Though we may never know who the real inventor of the three-point shot is, it’s safe to say a group of basketball pioneers made their contributions and made a lasting impact on the game, and that one of those pioneers was indeed Al Grenert.