DAILY DIRT: ‘The Rifleman’ must have had one mean set shot

November 10, 2024 | By Steve Eighinger, Muddy River News Minister of Culture and Doctor of Love

Chuck Connors played for the Royals (now Kings) and Celtics in the NBA and the Dodgers and Cubs in MLB. — Pro basketball encyclopedia

Daily Dirt for Sunday, Nov. 10, 2024

Ironically, Connors died on this date in 1992 at age 71. Johnny Crawford, who played his son, Mark, on “The Rifleman, died in 2021 at age 75 … Welcome to today’s three thoughts that make up Vol. 1,109 of The Daily Dirt.

1. Any self-respecting baby boomer remembers Chuck Connors, the man we grew up admiring as “The Rifleman” on television.

Connors was also quite an athlete, playing briefly in both the NBA and MLB, but what many don’t know is that he was was the first professional basketball player to break a backboard — way back in 1946. Surprisingly, Connors shattered the backboard with a set shot during pregame warmups — not a dunk. The backboard broke because an arena worker had not placed a protective piece between the rim and backboard.One other interesting note about that incident was it occurred prior to the Celtics’ first home game in their inaugural season.
Here are a few other memorable incidents involving shattered backboards you may remember:

Darryl Dawkins: Chocolate Thunder shattered two backboards in the 1979-80 season, leading to the NBA adopting breakaway rims.
Gus Johnson: He shattered three backboards during his career in the 1960s and early 1970s.
Charlie Hentz: He shattered two backboards in the SAME GAME in the old American Basketball Association (ABA) in 1970, resulting in the game being canceled.
Shaquille O’Neal: Shaq shattered two backboards in his rookie season and again in 1993.
Michael Jordan: His Airness dunked so hard in a Nike exhibition game in 1985 that the backboard was completely broken.

Today, backboards are shatter-resistant and made from polycarbonate instead of glass.

2. Did you know (Part 182)

That there were two albums in the 1980s that both made it to No. 1 on the Billboard chart, but did not produce a Top 40 single: “For Those About to Rock,” by ACDC and “Somewhere” by Barbra Streisand.
That Baskin-Robbins’ ice cream flavor of the month for November is Brie My Guest. Baskin-Robbins has also brought back its turkey ice cream cake for this month.
That there are no stop signs in Paris. They were all removed in 2016. The city uses stoplights to better regulate traffic.
That astronauts are permitted to vote from space.
That the Beatles used the word “love” 613 times in their songs.
That 85 percent of Valentine’s Day cards are bought by women.