The 24-Second "Shot Clock"

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 NBA scrimmage organized by Danny Biasone on August 10, 1954 at Blodgett Vocational High School in Syracuse. In the first season 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.