WCU's Carr, Maker Of First NCAA 3-pointer, To Be Featured In ... - WLOS

CULLOWHEE, N.C. (WLOS) — Basketball has changed drastically over the last decade. A game that used to be marked by feeding the post and working to the elbows for midrange jumpers has taken a step back.

Or, several.

WCU's Ronnie Carr, maker of first NCAA 3-pointer, to be featured in upcoming docuseries

The 3-point shot is all the rage at every level of competitive basketball. In the NBA for example, the top 15 marks for most 3-point field goals made in a season all happened since 2012.

There was a time when shots taken from that distance had no denotation because there was no 3-point shot. The NCAA did not fully adopt the 3-point line until 1986; however, six years before that the Southern Conference was allowed to implement a line 22-feet from the basket where teams would be awarded an extra point for a make.

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The first 3-pointer in college basketball history happened at Western Carolina on November 29th, 1980.

"There wasn't really a whole lot of hype for me, even though we were briefed about what the shot would entail," remembered Ronnie Carr, the maker of that historic jump shot. "It wasn't as important to me because I was more concerned about Middle Tennessee State."

The Catamounts were hosting the nationally-ranked Blue Raiders at Reid Gymnasium. With his team trailing 4-2 with 16:09 left in the first half Western had an inbounding opportunity under their own basket. They called a play named "Stack", which led to Carr darting out to the left corner, taking the inbounds pass, and launching a shot that would put his name in the record books.

"It is amazing that this is a story that's still a hidden gem," marveled Richmond Weaver, a film-maker from South Carolina who is working on a docuseries honoring the century-long history of the Southern Conference. He and his crew were in Cullowhee Thursday to interview Carr and former teammates and staff from that 1981 team.

True, most people even in Western North Carolina don't know that the flurry of flying basketballs they see now started in the mountains. There is a sticker on the floor at Reid Gym, which is now used for everyday student activities and classes.

But the sticker is in the wrong place. Instead of being dead in the corner where Carr took the shot, it sits about twenty feet away on the wing.

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"I think they just assumed I shot it from here because I did take a lot of shots from this area," laughed Carr. "But I guess they just didn't have any visual evidence to know for sure."

That is the other part that has led to Carr's anonymous claim to fame. The only video camera in the building that night was a WLOS photographer. The tape of the shot had been sitting in our archives for decades until we heard of Carr coming back to Cullowhee.

We managed to find the tape with the shot and put it in a digital format. Because of that, we were able to show Carr the video during our interview.

While watching the grainy and over-exposed video of the moment, Carr several times sniffled and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"I get a little emotional because the players that I played with back then, the blood, sweat, and tears that we put towards the game -- do not get the recognition that they deserve," stated Carr.

Weaver's untitled project, which he hopes to release next summer, will change that.

"It impacted the world of sports in terms of what we see happening now," Weaver observed.

While Carr's achievement has been absent in popular culture and mainstream media, the ball he used and a picture of him are both on display at the Basketball Hall of Fame.