Syracuse, NY will never be the same. The town where the 24 second shot clock was first used in a professional basketball game has built a tribute commemorating that day, fifty-one years ago.

The monument has been installed downtown. It's a large twenty-four second clock sitting atop a tall pole, with a big circular plaque on the pole at eye level.

Before the twenty-four second clock, pro basketball was a slow-moving game dominated by pasty white ballplayers. The shot clock has allowed for faster games dominated by athletic black ballplayers. Ironically, on Saturday in Syracuse, pasty white ballplayers Dolph Schayes, John Havlicek and Bill Walton were on hand to pay tribute to the paradigm shifting clock.

Walton was quoted as saying, "This is one of the most important days in the history of the game because it credits the evolution, it credits the teaching, it credits the chance for people's dreams to come true."

[03/27/2005]