“NCAA banned dunking for 10 years to stop Kareem Abdul-Jabbar!”: How the ‘Lew Alcindor rule’ was imposed to slow down the rise of the UCLA star 

The NCAA imposed some questionable rules in the 1960s. One of them was the ban on dunking to slow down a Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. 

Dunking is a thrilling sight in every basketball game. A thunderous dunk can get fans up and inspire a crowd. It’s so popular in today’s game that it even has its own competition.

In 1936, the first dunk in organized athletics occurred. During the Berlin Olympics, Joe Fortenberry, a 6-foot-8-inch Texan, invented the dunk. Basketball purists initially loathed the dunk.

In his 1937 book, Kansas basketball coach Phog Allen described the dunk in detail.

“Dunking does not display basketball skill—only height advantage.”

Kansas Basketball Coach Phog Allen

Despite widespread disapproval of the dunk in the 1950s and 1960s, several players continued to use it in their offensive games.

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Many defenders saw the move as an insult that violated one of the game’s unwritten rules. In rare cases, participants demonstrated their displeasure with the act by purposefully removing a dunker’s legs.

This was one of the factors which led the NCAA to ban dunking for almost a decade.

The NCAA banned dunking for 10 years due to UCLA’s Lew Alcindor rule, stopping Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

For a variety of reasons, the NCAA prohibited the dunk before the 1967-1968 collegiate season.

According to the organization, the dunk “was not a skilled shot”. The rules committee stated that the suspension was also imposed due to harm concerns. In their analysis, they documented 1,500 incidents in which a player was injured near the backboard in the preceding year.

The ban was imposed, it was assumed, in reaction to UCLA’s Lew Alcindor (Alcindor would later change his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar).

During his freshman year of college, Alcindor often dunked on his opponents. The “Lew Alcindor rule,” forbade players from shooting above and straight over the cylinder.

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Alcindor’s UCLA coach stated that the NCAA suggested that Alcindor was not the basis for the regulation. However, officials did disclose that his name came up in conversation.

Alcindor adapted and devised a new technique known as the skyhook, leading the Bruins to national titles the next two seasons. He accomplished all of this without a single dunk.