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Chris Ford, the player credited with making the first three-pointer in NBA history–but was he really the first? Welcome to Hardwood History, a series where we take a quick dive into random bits of NBA and basketball history. 

It’s October 12th, 1979, three years after the NBA had acquired the ABA and the first season that the league would officially instill the 3-point line on a trial basis; a rule adopted from the ABA who’d popularized the shot. The Boston Celtics are facing the Houston Rockets (this is also Larry Bird’s debut game, by the way). With 3:48 remaining in the first quarter, Ford gets the ball at the top of the arc and drills the shot. History is made. Or is it? Because in another part of the country, another player made a three that same night. 

Kevin Grevey, a shooting guard for the Washington Bullets, was playing against the Philadelphia 76ers when he made a corner three. After the game, a reporter had told him that he had “just set a record that would never be broken.” However, a news report from the league days after the games stated that the matchup between the Celtics and Rockets was “the first game according to start time” that season. It was later revealed that Ford’s game had started approximately 35 minutes before Grevey’s. 

With Ford making his shot in the first quarter, it’s safe to say that he was officially the first–sorry, Mr. Grevey. The Bullets guard believed he was the first to make history for years and was quite amazed he wasn’t, saying to The New York Times, “It’s pretty amazing that I didn’t make the first one. Because I think the first time I touched the ball I caught it in the corner and toed behind the line, shot it and made it.”

From Ford to Curry, the 3-point shot has come a long way.