Jerry Harkness’ Legendary Full-Court Shot

[00:00:00] On November 13th, 1967, the Indiana Pacers were taking on the Dallas Chaparral's in an ABA clash

[00:00:09] and with one second left on the clock and the Pacers were down 116-118 and they threw the ball to Jerry Harkness

[00:00:17] who gave a last second heave from 92 feet away, sinking the shot, giving the Pacers the win 119-118.

[00:00:28] Today we're going to dive into how this happened and how hard is it to make these full-court shots

[00:00:34] and why this record will never be broken. Today on Daily Sports History.

[00:00:46] Welcome to Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Reese, your guide as you daily learn more about sports history,

[00:00:52] increasing your sports knowledge as today we learn about the full-court shot.

[00:00:58] And today's trivia question to listen out for is, what is the longest shot ever made in an NBA game?

[00:01:08] So to start this topic, we first need to know about the dimensions of the court.

[00:01:13] Now the dimensions of a professional basketball court are 94 feet long and 50 feet wide.

[00:01:21] Now that's the same in the NCAA, but high school is about 10 feet shorter, but the same width across.

[00:01:28] Now when basketball was first created by James Naismith, he didn't put in any of the rules how big the size needed to be.

[00:01:35] If you know anything about his rules that he first created, it didn't matter how many players were on the team,

[00:01:41] it didn't matter where you played, just that you had a hoop and a ball.

[00:01:44] Those were the main basics. So you could play this game anywhere. You played outside, you played inside,

[00:01:51] you have a short ceiling, a tall ceiling. It didn't matter. It was just to play.

[00:01:55] But as the game continued to grow, in 1924, they officially named the size of a court to be a maximum of 90 feet by 50 feet,

[00:02:06] and a minimum of 60 feet. And back then, they didn't have a three, they didn't have a key, free throw lines came in later.

[00:02:13] So really, the size was kind of in flux. But over the years, they played around with what would be the best fit.

[00:02:20] As they went down to just five players per game, and they started a key and a free throw line,

[00:02:26] they needed to be more uniform as they played, and as they started to have more leagues.

[00:02:31] And then the NBA started, then they made their dimensions standard.

[00:02:35] And when the NBA started up, they also took those dimensions. Although, they started with a three-point line,

[00:02:43] which made it even more interesting. This is why the Pacers were actually able to win that game against Dallas in 1967.

[00:02:52] See, 1967 was actually the first year the NBA started.

[00:02:58] And we actually have a previous episode talking about how the NBA actually got started.

[00:03:02] In that year, the league consisted of a total of 11 teams.

[00:03:08] Five in the East and six in the West.

[00:03:11] And Dallas was in the West, and the Pacers were in the East.

[00:03:15] So this was an East versus West challenge.

[00:03:17] And Dallas was actually one of the better teams in the league.

[00:03:20] Although both teams made it to the playoffs,

[00:03:23] The Pacers had a losing record that year, and Dallas had won 46 games, finishing second in the West.

[00:03:30] In that season, Dallas had two All-Stars on their team in Cliff Hagan and John Beasley.

[00:03:36] And the Pacers actually had three on their roster in Roger Brown, Mel Daniels, and Bobby Nitolicki.

[00:03:44] Although in this game, Mel Daniels would not play.

[00:03:47] And the Pacers' leading scorer was Freddie Lewis.

[00:03:49] And coming into this game, the Pacers were actually a very strong team, as they were 12-3.

[00:03:54] But with the injury to Mel Daniels, it caused them to have a tougher later part of the season.

[00:04:00] And Dallas was only 4-5.

[00:04:02] And the game pretty much was dominated by Dallas' Cliff Hagan and Bobby Varga,

[00:04:08] who each scored over 30 points in this game.

[00:04:10] But the Pacers were able to keep it close, as every one of their starters scored in double figures.

[00:04:16] But it was a guy off the bench that would make history on this day.

[00:04:20] And that was Jerry Harkness, who was born in Harlem, but showed great promise in basketball,

[00:04:26] as New York was a great basketball scene back in the day.

[00:04:29] And he was able to join the Loyola Chicago basketball team,

[00:04:34] where he was an All-American and a captain when they won the national championship in 1963.

[00:04:39] And this team actually went up against Mississippi State, which was known as the Game of Change,

[00:04:46] because Loyola started four black players against Mississippi State,

[00:04:50] who was a segregated team and wouldn't even play a game against black players until this moment.

[00:04:57] And there's actually a famous photo of Jerry shaking the hand of Joe Dan Gold.

[00:05:02] Now, this was just the second round of the NCAA, so it wasn't the championship,

[00:05:05] which is why Texas Western gets more of the publicity, because it was for a national championship,

[00:05:11] and it was against a powerhouse in Kentucky.

[00:05:14] But this was a pivotal moment, as it was the first time Mississippi State was playing black players

[00:05:19] in the 1960s, which is hard to fathom to us nowadays, as the game has changed and the world has changed.

[00:05:27] And they eventually went against the Cincinnati Bearcats,

[00:05:29] and all the starting five of Loyola played the entire championship game,

[00:05:34] upsetting the Cincinnati Bearcats and winning their first national title.

[00:05:38] After this, he would get drafted by the New York Knicks as the number 10th pick overall in the 1963 NBA draft.

[00:05:46] And Harkins played one season with them before joining the Twin City Sailors of the NABL,

[00:05:52] which was a short-lived NBA competitor that played for four seasons.

[00:05:56] Then after this, he joined the Indiana Pacers of the ABA, where he would play two more seasons.

[00:06:01] But he was never a star on any of these teams.

[00:06:05] He was always just kind of a backup player, a guy that came off the bench to help support the team as much as he could.

[00:06:10] And that's what his role was with the Indiana Pacers.

[00:06:12] He was a backup player.

[00:06:13] But he had to play a little bit more, especially in this game without Milt Daniels.

[00:06:17] They needed some great players.

[00:06:18] They needed players to help compete.

[00:06:20] And as the game came close to an end, Jerry was out there helping lead the team.

[00:06:24] And at the time, he only scored one other basket that entire game.

[00:06:28] He wasn't a huge scorer as he only averaged seven points in his entire career.

[00:06:33] But being down two points with one second left, there wasn't very many options.

[00:06:38] And so the Pacers passed the ball into Harkin, and he just threw up a Hail Mary towards the goal.

[00:06:44] It hit the backboard and went in.

[00:06:47] And even though they were playing this game in Dallas, the crowd of 2,500 erupted as it was a crazy thing that no one had ever seen before a shot that long.

[00:06:59] Now, full court shots had happened before, but it was just a crazy moment.

[00:07:03] And if they were playing in the NBA at that time, it just would have tied it.

[00:07:06] But because he was in the ABA, the RAA had a three-point line, which gave them three points and gave them the win, 119 to 118.

[00:07:15] And this was such a new thing as the league was so new and the three-point shot was so new.

[00:07:20] The team actually didn't celebrate that much.

[00:07:23] They were happy.

[00:07:24] They were excited.

[00:07:24] But they got together in a huddle getting ready for overtime.

[00:07:28] And then the official came over to them and said, no, the game is over.

[00:07:32] That was a three-point shot.

[00:07:34] And Jerry didn't even know it was a three-point shot.

[00:07:36] He was ready to go into overtime.

[00:07:37] But it was an exciting moment.

[00:07:39] And over the years, as the ABA became joined with the NBA, there have been some long shots made.

[00:07:46] And there have been roughly 10 shots made that were over 70 feet.

[00:07:51] So that's in the history of the NBA.

[00:07:55] It's always a last-second thing, usually the end of a quarter or the end of a game.

[00:08:00] But it can still be very exciting.

[00:08:02] And the longest there's ever been in the NBA was by Baron Davis, who was part of the Charlotte Hornets,

[00:08:10] taking on the Milwaukee Bucks when he hit an 89-yard shot, which he threw like a football.

[00:08:16] And not only did he make it, it was nothing but net.

[00:08:20] It was a crazy shot that happened in 2001.

[00:08:23] And the longest shot ever in an NBA playoff game was Magic Johnson, where the Lakers were taking on the Denver Nuggets in 1987,

[00:08:32] where he hit an 84-foot shot.

[00:08:35] Now, the longest basketball shot ever made in any kind of form—now, this wouldn't be legal in the NBA because it's too long—

[00:08:42] was made in 2002 of a distance of 112 feet, made by Elan Bowler.

[00:08:49] And, of course, in this day and age where we all love these trick shots, Dude Perfect actually holds a record for the tallest shot,

[00:08:56] where they shot from 855 feet up in the air to make one shot that took over four days to sink.

[00:09:05] These shots are all fun, and we love the opportunity to see these shots be made, especially at the end of games like Jerry's was.

[00:09:13] It's a great honor that he has to have the longest shot ever.

[00:09:16] But, just like a lot of other games from the 60s, including Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game,

[00:09:23] we don't actually have any proof this happened, other than reports and people there.

[00:09:28] There is no pictures, no film.

[00:09:30] It was just a memory for everyone there, and something we just all have to imagine.

[00:09:38] And if you want more Pacers content, check out the Undebeatables,

[00:09:43] where they take you through everything you need to know about the Pacers,

[00:09:47] including recaps and all the news going on in and around the Pacers.

[00:09:52] We'll put a link in the description below for you to check them out,

[00:09:55] so you can get all your Pacers content,

[00:09:57] and maybe hit a full-court shot on your next podcast selection.

[00:10:02] And if you enjoyed today's episode, please leave us a rating or a review wherever you're listening,

[00:10:07] and if you put a topic in that review, we will get that done just for you.

[00:10:12] And come back tomorrow for more daily sports history.

[00:10:19] And did you catch the answer to today's trivia question?

[00:10:22] What is the longest shot in NBA history?

[00:10:26] And the answer is 89 feet, done by Byron Davis in 2001.