On January 16, 1970, Steve Myers of Pacific Lutheran University took a shot at the basket. What made the attempt so strange was the fact that Myers was standing out of bounds behind his own end line. The ball arced up and dropped into the net like a homing pigeon. Later the shot was measured at 92 feet, 3 1/2 inches.
Of course, the basket was illegal, but the crowd shouted its approval. The officials gave in and let the points count.
From The Giant Book of More Strange But True Sports Stories by Howard Liss. Illustrations by Joe Mathieu.
http://www.angelfire.com/or/myerstimes/poetry.html
Liss got the school wrong. Steve Myers wasn’t playing for Pacific Lutheran University, he was playing against them for–believe it or not–Cowlitz Redi-Mix. Cowlitz is a county in WA, so I’m guessing the team was sponsored by a concrete company.
It seems the main reason why the refs gave in and allowed the shot to count was because Cowlitz was hopelessly behind and was absolutely not going to win the game. If it was close, I doubt they would have allowed it.
Myers held the Guinness World Record for that shot until someone else sank one from 92 feet, 6 inches. The current record is 112 feet, 6 inches.
Myers died from heart trouble at age 56.