10 Athletes Who Forced Sports Leagues to Change Their Rules

On this day 60 years ago, the NBA experimented with playing a game with 12-foot baskets when the Milwaukee Hawks took on the Lakers at home in Minneapolis. The idea stemmed from the league's concern over the dominance of big men, and more specifically, George Mikan. The player nicknamed "Mr. Basketball" would simply stay posted in or very close to the paint, so that all he needed to do was make a quick pivot and score with relative ease. This approach made it borderline impossible for opposing teams to stop and the L needed to do something in order to "make a basket worth a cheer," as one sports columnist put it.

While this alteration eventually didn't stick for reasons we will get into later, there are a couple of other instances when a league was compelled to do something in order to combat a player's impact on the game. From the NCAA banning dunking in a game because of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to the complete overhaul made to boxing after the infamous bout between Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini and Kim Duk-Koo, here are 10 Athletes Who Forced Sports Leagues to Change Their Rules.

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Rule change: Three-second rule
Year of change: 1936

At 6'5", Leroy Edwards doesn't seem like an imposing force these days. Back in the '30s, however, Edwards presented all types of problems in the paint for opposing players of the National Basketball League. Edwards' aggressive play forced the league to implement a three-second rule, which disallowed a player from staying in the restricted area (the paint) for no more than three seconds unless they were guarding a nearby player. Leroy's numbers took a hit on the offensive end as his points per game average took a steady decline following the 1937-38 season where he scored 16.2 PPG.

Rule change: Use of 12-foot baskets
Year of change: 1954

As we touched on in the intro, the NBA used an exhibition game between the Minneapolis Lakers and Milwaukee Hawks to try out an entire game with 12-foot baskets. The goal was to prevent George Mikan from being so dominant around the rim, but as you can tell in the box score, the plan worked perfectly as Mikan went a lousy 2/14 from the field. So, why aren't we seeing 12-foot baskets right now? Because the alteration hurt every player that night. As Mikan put it, “It threw the whole game out of sync and made it tougher on the smaller man. It just makes the big man bigger.” Guess the league didn't think of that, huh?

Even though the idea was discussed once again in 1967 for a Tennessee preseason scrimmage game, the higher rims became something reserved for an event like MTV's Rock N' Jock. Remember that?

Rule change: Widening the free-throw lane
Year of change: 1955

In his three years at the University of San Francisco, Bill Russell averaged a staggering 20.7 PPG and 20.3 RPG. One of the main reasons for this level of dominance was due to the fact that Russell was allowed to stay posted within 10 feet of the paint and reap the rewards of his 6'9" frame coupled with that exceptional athleticism. However, after Russell and USF won their second consecutive national championship in 1955, it was clear that a change needed to be made or athletic ballers, like Russell, were going to dominate the NCAA for years to come. That is when the free-throw lane was expanded to 12 feet.

Additionally, Russell's dominance led to the expansion of the key, which was the area in the paint where Bill would remain and wait for his teammates to lob passes to him, sometimes even over the backboard where the center would simply bring down and dunk.

Rule change: No dunking allowed
Year of change: 1967

It didn't take long for the NCAA to realize that, thanks to his towering height, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was going to present an unfair advantage out on the court in that he could dunk with ease. So, the NCAA responded by putting a ban on dunking. Not a big deal for Abdul-Jabbar because as you can tell in the above image, Kareem would instead simply lay it up off the glass. And the rule change didn't hurt the Bruins either who went on to win back-to-back-to-back national championships. The ban was eventually lifted in 1976.

Rule change: Altering the height of the mound
Year of change: 1968

In 1968, Bob Gibson was dominant, recording a 1.12 ERA with 268 strikeouts and 13 shutouts. At one point, Gibson won 15 straight game en route to a 23-9 overall record that year. What may come as a shock is that Gibson had nine losses in a season where he only surrendered 38 earned runs. But, the Cardinals pitcher wasn't the only hurler finding success on the mound. The National League average ERA was 2.99. However, with Gibson leaps and bounds above everyone else, the league felt compelled to make it more difficult for pitchers to succeed, which is why they lowered the height of the mound from 15 to 10 inches.

The following year, Gibson had a 2.18 ERA and a 20-13 overall record. Not a terrible statline, but he it definitely wasn't the same pitcher.

Rule change: Championship bouts were reduced from 15 to 12 rounds.
Year of change: 1983

On Nov. 13, 1982, Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini took on Duk Koo Kim. The sport of boxing was forever changed after that bout. Following 13 brutal rounds of fighting, Kim was nearly lifted from the fight, but he continued onward. In the 14th, Mancini connected with a sharp right jab that caused Kim's neck to snap back, sending him to the canvas. Kim was able to drag himself to the ropes, but referee Richard Green had seen enough. Green called the fight but the damage was already done.

While in his corner, Kim collapsed and was taken to a nearby hospital where doctors found a blood clot in his brain. An emergency surgery was performed but Kim lapsed into a coma and four days later, he died of brain injuries. Four months after Kim's untimely death, his mother killed herself by drinking a bottle of pesticide. Four months after that, Green committed suicide. Mancini eventually fell into a deep depression, especially after people started referring to him as the guy that "killed" Kim.

The impact of this fight forced the WBC to shorten its title bouts from 15 to 12 rounds, as well as introducing the standing eight-count and revamping the required medical tests of boxers prior to a fight.

Rule change: Goalies can only handle puck inside the trapezoid
Year of change: 2005

For the non-hockey fans out there, have you seen that area behind the net that happens to be in the shape of a trapezoid? Do you know its origins? Ask Martin Brodeur. Early in his career, Marty got in the habit of utilizing his exceptional puck handling ability and essentially acted as a third defenseman. Needless to say, there wasn't another goalie who was capable of doing what Brodeur could do, giving the Devils an unfair advantage.

Prior to the 2005-06 season, the NHL responded by creating the trapezoid. It indicates the only area where goalies were allowed to handle the puck. All of this just to stop Brodeur. Pretty much.

Rule change: Horse-collar tackle
Year of change: 2005

Roy Williams wasn't the fastest safety in the league, so he needed to find a way to bring down those offensive threats as they streaked by him. Williams thought he found the answer by reaching out, grabbing the inside of a player's shoulder pads and pulling straight down. If the description makes you feel a little queasy, wait until you see it.

During the 2004 season, Williams used this type of tackle and injured four players. On May 23, 2005, the NFL voted 27-5 in favor of banning the horse-collar tackle.

Rule change: Preventing players from standing in front of net to distract goalie
Year of change: 2008

During Game 3 of the Conference Quarterfinals of the 2008 NHL Playoffs, Sean Avery attempted to give the Rangers an unfair advantage with what is now referred to as "The Avery Rule." With the Blueshirts possessing the puck, Avery tried distracting Devils goalie Martin Brodeur by literally waving his hands and stick in the air. Immediately after the incident, the NHL responded through Senior Executive Vice President and Director of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell who said that from here on out, an unsportsmanlike penalty and two-minute trip to the penalty box would be given to anyone who tried doing Avery's act.

Rule change: Alterations to Hack-a-Shaq
Year of change: 2008

Shaquille O'Neal was easily one of the best centers to ever play the game. But like every player, Shaq had a weakness and it was free-throws. A career 52.7 percent shooter from the stripe, O'Neal found himself the victim of an opposing team's Hack-a-Shaq strategy which caused a player to intentionally foul the center whether that person had the ball or not thereby forcing him to knock down free-throws. This approach wasn't new as the same thing was done to guys like Wilt Chamberlain, Ben Wallace and Dennis Rodman. But it was Shaq who eventually coerced the league to punish teams who utilized the approach within the last two minutes.

Now, an intentional foul on a player off-the-ball will amount to something similar to a technical foul, where the team with possession will shoot two free-throws and receive the ball back.