The Bulova hockey scoreboards
- Thread starter Fenway
- Start date
Awesome! Grew up in tge 70s so I missed the older clocks but always liked how different each clock in a arena looked. Never did get to see this beauty though, looks like a trip to Boston might be coming up soon. What mall?The Boston Garden clock was destroyed in 1967 - I saw it smashed in the storage area.
Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Providence and Buffalo had Bulova clocks and Mike Emrick told me Indianapolis had one as well.
I saw the Forum clock in operation at a box lacrosse game in 1965.
Montreal went digital in 1966 and the Bruins used the same company (Day Industries from Toronto) the following year and the Hawks also bought a digital clock from Day.
Montreal and Chicago would upgrade their boards in the 80's but the Bruins stayed with the 1967 model until the Garden closed in 1995. That clock lives in a Boston area mall in a food court.
DJ Man
Registered User
I find amusing the arrows that read "SCORE" and point to, well, the score. It's a score board, for goshsakes! But there's so much other stuff on it, they have to direct you to the score. I wonder if they added those to the design at a late stage, when somebody asked "But what's the score?"
DJ Man
Registered User
I just noticed that, for the most common version of the scoreboard ...
... nowhere does it show you the PERIOD, or the QUARTER (or HALF for college). Unless I'm missing it.
Seems strange. Now, if you're at the game, you're pretty much sure of that value, but it hurts the documentary value of a photograph. 0-0 with nine minutes to go on the clock ... is this just a slow first period, or a thrilling finish to the game pending?
... nowhere does it show you the PERIOD, or the QUARTER (or HALF for college). Unless I'm missing it.
Seems strange. Now, if you're at the game, you're pretty much sure of that value, but it hurts the documentary value of a photograph. 0-0 with nine minutes to go on the clock ... is this just a slow first period, or a thrilling finish to the game pending?
I just noticed that, for the most common version of the scoreboard ...
... nowhere does it show you the PERIOD, or the QUARTER (or HALF for college). Unless I'm missing it.
Seems strange. Now, if you're at the game, you're pretty much sure of that value, but it hurts the documentary value of a photograph. 0-0 with nine minutes to go on the clock ... is this just a slow first period, or a thrilling finish to the game pending?
I never thought about that but you are correct.
This was Bulova's first venture into hockey scoreboards. As far as I've been able to research, this was the only one of this configuration that made it into an arena. It apparently didn't work as well as planned. In 1942, Bulova came out with the model we're more familiar with that has the inner and outer penalty clock dials for each team. Boston probably got the first one, Chicago got its clock before the 1943-44 season began, and then Detroit, Providence, and Indianapolis got theirs.On March 20, 1941, the Boston Bruins installed a new clock for the 1941 playoffs. It cost $40,000 ($ 641,412.08 today)
I am puzzled because this is not the same Bulova scoreboard the Garden used into the late 60's.
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The game clock ran clockwise. It was easier to read "12:47 played" than to try to look at the hands and subtract the number of long and short marks and think backwards to come up with time remaining. By the looks of the numbers on the penalty clocks, it appears that the hands on both the inner and outer part of the dial were just minute hands and ran counterclockwise.
I think Buffalo got theirs a little later, more toward the end of WWII, unless some of the interior photos of the Aud I've seen are mis-dated. I'll check. With regard to Los Angeles, I had no idea that the Pan-Pacific Auditorium had one! You guys are such a great resource for these pieces of history....
The penalty clocks in Boston ran clockwise and a green neon 2 would light up for a minor penalty.
Fenway, please fill me in, because I only saw a few Bulls' games at Chicago Stadium in their early years---but for NBA games, didn't the control panel allow the timekeeper to set the start of a period at the eight-minute mark so that when the clock started, there were 12 minutes to be played and the end of a period ended with both hands straight up?Boston Garden for the NBA
The Bruins eliminated the Bulova markings at some point before 1960 and later painted Boston Garden where the watch company ad was.
When they installed the color TV lights at Boston Garden we discovered the board was actually a dark blue, not black. The Garden clock was replaced in October 1967 by a digital board from Day Industries from Toronto with the major difference was the Boston clock would not blink between seconds like the one at the Forum.
When they installed the color TV lights at Boston Garden we discovered the board was actually a dark blue, not black. The Garden clock was replaced in October 1967 by a digital board from Day Industries from Toronto with the major difference was the Boston clock would not blink between seconds like the one at the Forum.
In Boston, they wound up installing a neon 12 because NBA coaches could never figure the clock out. That was done for the 65-66 season after this happened.
hacksaw7
Registered User
- Dec 3, 2020
- 1,288
- 1,354
The Boston Garden clock was destroyed in 1967 - I saw it smashed in the storage area.
Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Providence and Buffalo had Bulova clocks and Mike Emrick told me Indianapolis had one as well.
I saw the Forum clock in operation at a box lacrosse game in 1965.
Montreal went digital in 1966 and the Bruins used the same company (Day Industries from Toronto) the following year and the Hawks also bought a digital clock from Day.
Montreal and Chicago would upgrade their boards in the 80's but the Bruins stayed with the 1967 model until the Garden closed in 1995. That clock lives in a Boston area mall in a food court.
wow. didn't know what it's ultimate fate was. I remember going to that last series at Boston Garden. They definitely tore some ads off it. I recall Fleet Bank and Dunkin Donuts
hacksaw7
Registered User
- Dec 3, 2020
- 1,288
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Please post a picture of the clock.
I should remember, as we had season's tickets to the Wings at the old Olympia.
I have to say, I don't remember that.
I don't recall anything like the massive overhanging thing from the Garden you posted.
Most of the time, I tracked the score and time left on relatively minor "strips" affixed below the rafter seats (sic).
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