EAST SYRACUSE, NY - A clock is ticking in Armory Square.
There's no need for a bomb squad. Perhaps, though a celebration is in order.
A replica of the original 24-second shot clock that revolutionized basketball
was erected in Armory Square last year as a monument to the first use of the
device at Blodgett School in 1954.
The replica broke down at least five times after its unveiling in March 2005.
In September, the people responsible for the clock decided it was too expensive
to continue fixing it. They left the clock on, stuck at "24".
But last Friday, the clock started again. As of Thursday afternoon, the
countdown continued.
The original designer of the replica, Ted Kunzi of Neon Glassworks, decided
he couldn't walk away from the clock. He said he searched the local area for
someone who had the best chance of fixing the clock.
He found Kevin Knecht of Bomac, in East Syracuse.
Knecht said the system Kunzi used would have been considered excellent design
for the 1960s, but it had hundreds of moving parts that are more likely to break
than today's "solid state" designs, which involve no moving parts.
When Kunzi designed the replica, he wanted to preserve the historic look of
its exterior, which uses 88 bulbs to form the numbers 24 through 0. He
opted for an old-school approach to the guts of the clock, too.
"I'm from the 8-track generation," Kunzi said. "And mechanical design
was what I knew how to do, not solid state design."
City Parks Commissioner Pat Driscoll said the money came from an anonymous
donor, who has provided the bulk of more than $60,000 invested in the clock so
far.
