The chants of “airball, airball” sunk deep into a Daniel McKeehan’s psyche. He was a college student then, decades before he became the Hurricane High School principal, and had just missed everything on a halfcourt shot attempt in front of a crowd.
It was right then and there he made a vow.
“I decided if I am ever in that situation again, I will shoot the shot backward,” McKeehan told The Salt Lake Tribune. “Because if I make it, everyone’s going to be awestruck. If I miss it, everyone expects it.”
In the last 20-plus years, McKeehan has practiced that backward halfcourt shot “thousands of times,” and can generally make one out of every three or four tries, he said. When he coached volleyball, he’d try it, and his girls would either laugh when it missed or shake their heads when it went in. When he used to referee basketball games, he’d try it between games or at halftime.
But it wasn’t until over Thanksgiving weekend that he decided to put some stakes on it.
McKeehan filmed a video of him shooting his patented shot in an effort to win his students free pizza from a local restaurant at the next home boys’ basketball game. He swished it, and Mountain Mike’s Pizza made good on the promise last week at the team’s 69-66 win over Virgin Valley.
McKeehan said he actually made his first attempt. But because he said the restaurant’s slogan incorrectly, he had to record another video. The final version is what got posted on Instagram over Thanksgiving weekend.
McKeehan said Nic Lauritzen — friend, fellow halfcourt shot-taker and franchisee of the Hurricane location of Mountain Mike’s — brought 50 pizzas to Friday’s game. And it was during the game that Lauritzen decided to up the ante. He challenged McKeehan to make another halfcourt backwards shot. If he made it in three attempts, the Hurricane students would get free pizza at a home girls’ basketball game.
Challenge accepted. McKeehan turned his back, launched the shot, and buried it — on his first try. Students stormed the court as if they’d just won the inaugural National Championship of Halfcourt Backwards Shots for Free Pizza.
“It was really cool,” McKeehan said. “We have great kids at Hurricane High School.”
McKeehan said part of the reason for him shooting for free pizza is to entice his students to attend extracurricular events.
“We’re big believers in giving kids something to do,” he said. “We love it when they come out to [events]. Whether it be a play or a concert or a game, we want them there.”
McKeehan said students will get their free pizza at the Dec. 19 girls’ basketball game against Cedar. The team will probably be extra hungry to win that game.
