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MLB Implements Eligibility Rules In First Amateur Player Draft
The MLB conducts its first "Rule 4 Draft", also known as the First-Year Player draft, which implemented player eligibility rules first in 1965. It allowed players to either turn pro at 18 or commit to three years of college before entering the draft. -
Haywood v. National Basketball Association
In a historic decision, the US Supreme Court ruled to removed the NBA's old requirement that a player must complete four years of college eligibility before turning pro. This resulted from NBA player Spencer Haywood taking the league to court after signing with the Seattle Supersonics in violation of the previous NBA rule. -
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Younger Players Start To Join The Professionals
The 1970's were the first time period that multiple athletes entered the professional leagues from either one year of college or just high-school, with a good portion of them having success until the mid 1980's. -
Three Players Make The Jump Right From High School To The NBA
With the conclusion of the 1975 NBA draft, three players had made the jump from high school to the NBA without having to deal with the previous requirement of waiting (or playing in college) for four years: Moses Malone (coming from the ABA with the NBA/ABA merger), Darryl Dawkins, and Bill Willoughby.
(pictured: Bill Willoughby, red jersey, Houston Rockets) -
NFL Makes Clear Age Eligibility Draft Requirement After USFL Development
The National Football League proudly made a stance with its draft eligibility rule, in use since the beginning of the league, that states that football players who have been out of high school for at least three years (and/or playing college football during those years) are eligible for the NFL draft. This comes in response to first team All-American Herschel Walker's decision to join the United States Football League (USFL), since the league allowed hirn to join earlier. -
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"Dead Period" In Recruitment of High-School and One-Year Athletes
After professional teams see such players as Pierre Turgeon having little success coming from a younger age, they started to put more or their recruiting efforts for players with full college participation (and therefore more previous experience). There were fewer younger athletes joining the big leagues each year. -
NHL Makes History In Drafting High School Players
The NHL set a record in amount of players drafted from the high school level, as 69 players were transformed from high school graduates to potential NHL players at the 1987 NHL Entry Draft. This is in following the NHL's simple eligibility rule that has been in place for the last 40 years, in which players who turn 18 by September 15 and are not older than 20 by December 31 are eligible for selection. This is in sharp contrast to the eligibility rules of other sports.
(picture: Pierre Turgeon) -
Kevin Garnett First High School Player Drafted To NBA In 20 Years
High school basketball players had been following the college path that became "usual", until the 1995 NBA Draft, as high school superstar Kevin Garnett became the first player in 20 years to go right from high school to the NBA. This began an increase in players taking the same path, with at least one in the next seven draft classes. -
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New "Explosion" of Young Players Making the Professional Level
With the significance of the drafting of Kevin Garnett, who was the first "fully-developed" player (both physically and mentally) in a background other than four years in college, recruiters put more efforts into developing players starting at the high school. This led to a significantly higher amount of athletes from different teams join the professionals, this time with more success. -
NBA Adds Minimum Age Rule
With the annoucement of a new six-year collective bargaining agreement, the NBA created a new rule that increased the minimum age from 18 to 19 years old. Specifically, USA players must be at least one year removed from high school AND 19 years of age (by the end of the same calendar year) before entering the draft. Players outside the NCAA must turn 19 years old during the calendar year of that draft. -
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First "Full Team" of "One-and-Done" Players
Most younger players making the professional leagues came from different teams, but this all changed when coach John Calipari started to develop his Kentucky men's basketball team, with the legitimate talent they had, into something in which the entire starting cast could be in the NBA after only one year of college. -
Kentucky Top Freshman Become First Two Picks In NBA Draft
Defending champion Kentucky players Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist make the NBA as the marking the first freshman "one-and-done" teammates in the common draft era to be selected as the first two NBA draft picks.
