answers: 1961
context: three-point line was first tested at the collegiate level in 1945, with a 21-foot line, in a game between Columbia and Fordham, but it was not kept as a rule. There was another one-game experiment in 1958, this time with a 23-foot line, in a game between St. Francis (N.Y.) and Siena. In 1961, Boston University and Dartmouth played one game with an experimental rule that counted all field goals as three points. At the direction of Abe Saperstein, the American Basketball League became the first basketball league to institute the rule in 1961. Its three-point line was a radius </s> Basketball Association during its inaugural season. The National Basketball Association (NBA) introduced that rule in 1979; FIBA in 1984; the NCAA in 1986 (men only) and 1987 (women); middle and high schools in 1987; and the WNBA in 1997. Sam Smith of the Chicago Bulls completed the first four-point play in NBA history on October 21, 1979, in a game against the Milwaukee Bucks. Dale Ellis was the first player in NBA history to complete two four-point plays in the same game when he did so in a win against the Sacramento Kings on January 26, 1988. On April 29, </s> Three-Point Contest The Three-Point Contest (officially named the JBL Three-Point Contest and previously named the Three-Point Shootout) is a National Basketball Association (NBA) contest held on the Saturday before the annual All-Star Game as part of All-Star Weekend. From its introduction in 1986 to 2002, and again from 2017 onward, eight participants were selected to participate in each season's shootout. Between 2003 and 2016, the contest was open to just six competitors. Devin Booker of the Phoenix Suns is the most recent winner of the event which was held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. In this contest,
question: when was the three point shot added to basketball