The Bulova hockey scoreboards

[greyraven8]

At the Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame the director, Diane Imrie, told me years ago someone tried to donate a SporTimer clock from the arena of one of the small towns in Northwestern Ontario. The Hall didn't accept it though because it had been left outside for a long time and was in very poor condition. If she told me the name of the town it was I don't remember it.

If they ever get the donated unsold SporTimer on display, I'll see if I can obtain a picture or pictures, and try to remember to post it here.

 

[Killion]

If they ever get the donated unsold SporTimer on display, I'll see if I can obtain a picture or pictures, and try to remember to post it here.

Well thanks greyraven. Iconic pieces like that should be preserved, very lucky actually that there was one found in the old shop buildings unsold & sitting there crated for years but in mint condition huh? I love stories like that, things once thought lost forever found; things like the neon junkyard in Vegas & so on. Who doesnt love a Treasure Hunt?

 

[greyraven8]

Picture of the Detroit Olympia clock from the 1950s

Can be found in the album at this site:
http://www.historicdetroit.org/galleries/olympia-stadium-old-photos/

And here:
http://dlxs.lib.wayne.edu/cgi/i/image/getimage-idx?viewid=44541_3;cc=vmc;entryid=x-44541-und-3;quality=1;view=image

Here's a pic from 1942:

 

[greyraven8]

SporTimer clock at Winnipeg Arena 1955:

from the photo here:
http://digitalcollections.lib.umanitoba.ca/islandora/object/uofm%3A3545

 

[Killion]

^^^ Wow. Nice shot Man.

 

[Fenway]

^^^ Wow. Nice shot Man.

Here is a page that is a timekiller. Somebody has recreated all the indoor scoreboards in the NHL and NBA since expansion with very good detail.

 

[Killion]

.....with very good detail.

Indeed. Thanks Fenway.

 

[Canadiens1958]

Montreal Forum Sports Timer

Finally found an image. Not a Bulova but the old Sports Timer - original Montreal Forum clock in the north end, up high. Most of the clock is visible in the upper left:

http://www.banq.qc.ca/collections/images/notice.html?id=06MP48S1SS0SSS0D0P15593

 

[Killion]

^^^ Awesome shot there from 1947. Wall mounted clock.

 

[Canadiens1958]

Score

^^^ Awesome shot there from 1947. Wall mounted clock.

Score was posted below the central clock. Not on since the picture is from a non-hockey event.

Two small penalty clocks to the left, similar to those on the right.

 

[greyraven8]

Finally found an image. Not a Bulova but the old Sports Timer - original Montreal Forum clock in the north end, up high. Most of the clock is visible in the upper left:

http://www.banq.qc.ca/collections/images/notice.html?id=06MP48S1SS0SSS0D0P15593

That's the only one I found - cropped that image of it and put it in my first post in this thread. Didn't remember where I got it from; likely should have wrote it down at the time I found and mentioned it here when I posted - thanks for the link.



Found a little more on the SporTimer.

The Marine Museum of the Great Lakes at Kingston site has this listed:
Port Arthur Shipbuilding Fonds - Engineering/Production Serires - Subseries Engineering Correspondence.
992.50.20 1930 Sportimer file [Clock for sports arena]


Contacted them and they expanded a bit on what they have in the file. They sent me a just over 1 page document giving a general idea of what they have in the 3 boxes of the SporTimer file. Here's a part of it . In the first box in the Sales file they have:
o Sportimer - Port Arthur Arena
o Sportimer - Winnipeg Arena
o J. F. Sullivan re: sale of SporTimers
o Sportimer - Detroit Olimpia
o Sportimer - Fort William arena
o Sportimer - Miscellaneous sales file

If I wanted detailed information their $50/hour research time fee would kick in, but you are able to get some limited information on the files without this and they charge 50 cents/page. I am getting some of the smaller blueprints they have as the larger ones wouldn't be able to scan on a regular scanner and will have to be scanned externally at a cost of $10 each.

So for $25, I am getting 50 pages sent to me digitally that contain the smaller blueprints they have in the SporTimer file and topping the number up to 50 with some pages from the Fort William Arena sales file.


So I was looking through pictures of the Detroit Olympia online and found this photo on the Virtual Motor City Project:

and this one from a Pageant from 1939.

Not sure if SporTimer had a clock in the Olympia before the Bulova one as I have no details on the Sales file and if they actually sold one to the Olympia. But if they did possible this was it?

 

[Canadiens1958]

Sports Timer

^^^Was able to pin the date down from the BANQ - provincial archives and Library. They have an extensive photo library.

When I have a chance will try to research the opening of the Montreal Forum and some of the details.

 

[greyraven8]

Although someone told me they didn't have a SporTimer in Fort William Gardens (Fort William - now part of Thunder Bay) found some photos that may indicate otherwise:


The Squires playing the Gardens in 1964 or 1965 (from this site: http://my.tbaytel.net/pafwinfo/FWG.htm )

Not sure where I got this particular photo from the Ceremonies for the 1960 Brier (curling) at FWG:

Ceremonies from 1974 Ontario Winter Games (Thunder Bay Archives - Flickr)

While the fonds from the Marine Museum have a sales file listed as 'Fort William Arena' this may be the building that is called Fort William Gardens. A fire map insurance map from 1950 for the city of Fort William has the building while under construction labelled as 'Fort William Arena'.

 

[Canadiens1958]

Ironies

^^^One of the ironies of research. Sometimes you find key pictures or leads in the least likely places.

The arenas in the smaller communities often doubled as community centers.

 

[Killion]

The Squires playing the Gardens in 1964 or 1965...

Huh. Serious flashback. Tee*Kays. A unisex fashion line of jeans etc that was advertised & promoted heavily out of Winnipeg, from manufacturer Monarch Wear. They sponsored bands & concerts right across Canada & into the US, The Guess Who etc, and yes, The Squires. Pretty obscure. Their best known song one that never really charted, did anything at all, but amongst their fans like on par with Twist & Shout or whatever. Has that Mark & the Mysterions vibe to it. See if you can listen for more than 15 seconds... I couldnt do it.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoBB0e-dVhc

 

[greyraven8]

The Squires were before my time. Born in 1968.

When I hear the band name 'The Squires' I usually think of the Randy Bachman song "Prairie Town".

Line with a reference to Neil Young and the Squires and Thunder Bay in it at around 2:10 mark of the acoustic version - likely one of the very few (if not only) songs where you will ever see the city referenced. Prefer the slower acoustic version of Prairie Town but there is the faster rock version of it too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7ewuZS49aE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVgjD8wdNzo

 

[greyraven8]

Here's a few of the blueprints I got sent to me.

A proposed design for a four sided clock for the Montreal Forum:

A blueprint for the clock at Maple Leaf Gardens:

And a blueprint for the proposed installation of the Winnipeg Arena clock:

A here's one of the pages from the Fort William arena files. Looks like they deal with the sale of the clock that was in the Prince of Wales rink in Fort William. I have only got some of pages from this file so far. This page shows that the payments weren't coming in like clockwork.

 

[Fenway]

Montreal Forum 1955

 

[Fenway]

Boston Garden 1955

 

[Killion]

^^^ you can almost smell the popcorn, cigar & cigarette smoke looking at that picture Fenway.

 

[Canadiens1958]

March 17, 1955

Fenway, the picture of the Sports Timer from the Montréal Forum is at the end of the first period of the Maurice Richard Riot game, March 17, 1955.

 

[Fenway]

Fenway, the picture of the Sports Timer from the Montréal Forum is at the end of the first period of the Maurice richard Riot game, March 17, 1955.

Yes - the Montreal fans were not in a good mood after 20 minutes

1 - DET : Kelly 14 (PP) 5:05
2 - DET : Reibel 23 (Howe) (EV) 11:00
3 - DET : Kelly 15 (Pavelich) (SH) 12:58
4 - MON : Mackay 13 (Mosdell) (EV) 15:18
5 - DET : Reibel 24 (Wilson, Delvecchio) (PP) 18:53

 

[Fenway]

Chicago Stadium

 

[snoris]

I am guessing that Boston must have gotten the first one and Bulova then redesigned it after getting feedback. I never saw a picture of this one until tonight.

I had the chance last spring to chat with Doc Emrick and I asked if he remembered these clocks and he told me Indianapolis had one along with the ones I knew. (Boston, Providence, Buffalo, Detroit, Chicago and a one sided version at Boston Arena )

I found a photo of the Indiana State Fair Coliseum from 1963, taken a few days after the explosion that killed more than 70 people and injured hundreds at the end of an ice show.

The photo is taken from one end of the rink, and the scoreboard clock can be seen up in the rafters (it was cranked up high to allow clearance for the ice show lighting).

The detail is blurry, but the clock is the Chicago/Boston/Detroit model.

I will continue to research this.

 

[greyraven8]

Great pic on the puckstruck.com site:

"Hometime: Black Hawk left winger Johnny Gottselig poses with Chicago’s new centre-ice Bulova clock before it’s raised to the Stadium rafters in 1943."

https://puckstruck.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/chicago-clock.jpeg