CPA basketball coach buries longest backwards shot ever recorded

Christ Presbyterian Academy boys basketball coach Drew Maddux hit plenty of big shots during his playing days at Vanderbilt.

Not one of the 226 3-pointers he hit for the Commodores from 1994-98 compares to the bucket he buried earlier this week at the Nike Basketball Camp at Christ Presbyterian Academy.

On Wednesday, Maddux drained the longest backwards shot ever recorded, swishing an 84-foot, over-the-shoulder toss to break the previous Guinness World Record of 82 feet, 2 inches set in 2014 by Harlem Globetrotter Corey “Thunder” Law.

“When I saw the Harlem Globetrotters posted 82 feet, 2 inches as the world record I thought, ‘You know what, we can actually beat that,” Maddux said. “That’s why we did that shot.”

Law and the Globetrotters may have inspired his most recent trick-shot attempt, but Maddux said that affinity for exotic shots goes back much further, tracing its origin to a clever marketing campaign featuring a pair of NBA legends. 

“That old McDonald’s commercial with Michael Jordan and Larry Bird playing horse with each other, when I was young that was a big commercial," Maddux said. "All of us as young kids in the gym all the time, it got us thinking, 'Aw man, what if we threw it off the wall?'"

Maddux did more than just think about the possibilities, though. He actually practiced them. 

“I just became a guy that loved to play horse because I could make crazy shots,” Maddux said. “It’s just something that I’ve always loved to do when I was in the gym. Who would have thought all these years later it would come in handy, helping kids have a better time at basketball camp."

Maddux’s trick-shot resume includes a make from atop the Omni Hotel in downtown Nashville, along with one through the window of his daughter’s second-story room.

“That’s what gives me the most joy,” Maddux said. “Whether it is in our pool, in our backyard, or doing some of these crazy and exotic shots, it’s the other people’s reactions. That’s what makes it so fun.”

Reach Michael Murphy at mfmurphy@tennessean.com, 615-259-8026, and on Twitter @Murph_TNsports.