A peculiar scene erupted at a high-school basketball game in Colorado Springs close to a decade ago now. A young and wiry player sat at the free-throw line and lined up his shot, although if you’re picturing a typical free-throw line-up, shooting the ball above the shoulders, you’d be picturing it wrong. He was winding up an underhanded shot, colloquially and disparagingly referred to as a “Granny Shot.” He sinks the first one using this indecorous but effective method. The second one he misses, and in the tune of a typical sports-chant, the parents and fans in the opposing bleachers chanted “You-Re Ad-Op-Td-Ed!” The player on the court takes the quip in good humor; he laughs pretty hysterically in response. What possibly could be the explanation for this odd exchange?

That young high-school player was Canyon Barry, son of one of Basketball’s greatest ever players and one of the best free-throw shooters in its history, Rick Barry. He neared an unparalleled 95% rate in his last seasons, although his career total was 89.31%. His son wisely accepted his father’s instruction; “For me, it was kind of like one of those things where logic would dictate if you had one of the greatest free-throw shooters of all time as your personal free-throw coach, you should at least give it a try,” said Cameron in a 2017 interview on  NPR that he appeared in with his father entitled Why Rick and Canyon Barry Stay True to The ‘Granny Shot.’ The elder Mr. Barry, who also is one of the top-scoring players of all time, explained how his father (Canyon’s grandfather) taught him how to shoot free-throws the same way women commonly did it at the time in the 1950s; underhanded. A young Rick Barry complained about potentially being made fun of. ‘Son,’ the eldest Barry said, ‘They can’t make fun of you if you’re making all your shots.’ This ridiculed technique has been passed through three generations with great success. In February 2017, Canyon Barry broke the Florida Gators record for consecutive free-throws using the ‘Granny Shot’ made famous by his old man.