The 24 Second Shot Clock monument

This is in Armory Square. The building you can see in the background is the old armory, which is now a science museum.

In warmer weather it's a nice place to sit. You can use the wireless internet from Starbucks or Freedom of Espresso, the two coffee places which are next to the park.



The inscription reads:
The 24-Second "Shot Clock"
1954 - Syracuse, New York

This clock honors the rule that changed basketball and saved the National Basketball Association. The 24-Second shot clock, which put an end to stalling tactics that were threatening the league, was used for the first time in an N A scrimmage organized by Danny Biasone on August 10, 1954 at Blodgett Vocational High School in Syracuse. In the first game with the clock, league scoring would rise by 13.6 points per game.

Coach Howard Hobson of Oregon and Yale is credited with the original idea, and many helped Biasone to bring the clock to fruition in Syracuse, notably Emil Barboni and Leo Ferris. It was Ferris and Biasone who devised a formula for the shot clock, selecting "24" by dividing 2,880 (the number of seconds in a 48-minute game) by 120 (the average number of shots in a game).

Because of the vision and persistence of Biasone, president and founder of the Syracuse Nationals, his fellow NBA owners embraced the shot clock, now used in some form on almost every level of the game.

Dedicated here on March 26,2005, in the presence of surviving members of the Syracuse "Nats", 1955 Champions of the NBA.

The original shot clock is at LeMoyne College, is 25% smaller in size with one clock face.