Beyond the Byline: Remembering the old clock and good times

I can still remember walking into the 109th Field Artillery Armory back in the mid 1960s when the Wilkes-Barre Barons were the class of the Eastern Basketball League.

Those were great teams with great players — most of them would be stars in the NBA of today.

I was a member of the Wilkes-Barre Junior Barons that played before the Barons’ home games for three seasons in the mid 1960s.

These were the days of overflow crowds at the armory, when a cloud of smoke hovered over the basketball court and, at times, made it even harder for anybody to see the Stegmaier game clock that hung high at one end of the armory.

But it was there — always.

That clock is being repaired — at least I hope it is — at the West Side Career & Technology Center in Pringle. I called there to find out the status of the repairs, but nobody called me back.

Timing, after all, really is everything. And for decades, high above the floor of the Kingston Armory, the Stegmaier Beer Time Clock hung like a watchful guard. The clock kept time for many Wilkes-Barre Barons basketball games going back many years. And it was not in the best of places — not for fans or for players and coaches. But it was the game clock.

It was also the game clock for the Junior Barons games.

I can still see the lights of red and green and the yellow tone of the face of the clock. If I try hard enough, I can hear the sound of the horn as well.

Apparently that old, reliable clock had stopped working. And now it was up to a teacher and his class to make it better.

After several calls to the school and board members, I got to see the clock a few years ago.

The clock had been dismantled. I am told that the clock is being worked on and one day it will be repaired for game shape. There was an issue with securing the parts needed to repair the clock.

The Stegmaier Beer Time Clock is historic. It deserves to be refurbished and re-hung in its proper place.

I did find a little information about the clock on the internet:

“Pictured is the unique Stegmaier basketball scoring clock at the Kingston Armory. Though the Eastern Basketball League, along with the Barons, folded in the late 1960s, this old time scoreboard still exists. Another testament to its age is the two digit scoring lights. During the games, the gold neon ‘Stegmaier Beer Time’ would be visible for all of the fans to see.”

Not much information, but at least we have something.

The Junior Barons team was an All-Star squad of sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders coached by “Pop” Hughes, who would tell us over and over to “lay it in like a basket of eggs.”

We were good — we never lost. We won most games by a lot of points. Some visiting teams insisted we play on 8-foot baskets. That was a mistake. We had a group of kids who were the middle school version of Phi Slamma Jamma.

Our success, as I look back, was attributed more to the fact that we were a collection of the best local players in our age group. We should win and we should win big — every time out. And we did.

To this day, every time I walk into the Kingston Armory, I get goosebumps. I remember seeing, meeting and talking to great Barons’ players like Boo Ellis, Bob Keller, Cowboy Krieger, Sherman White, Lavern Tart and many more who donned the Barons’ uniform and delighted the crowd night after night.

The Junior Barons starting five included me, from Plymouth, Mark Brislin, Mitchell Johnson and Preston Cross — all of Meyers — and Tyrone McMullins, of Coughlin.

It was a lot of fun. By halftime of our games, the armory was jammed with people. We played before thousands and the fans loved to watch us. It was a great experience for a bunch of little kids.

We also got to meet the Barons. Each and every one of the players were gentlemen. They often watched us play and gave us pointers. We were never intimidated by those guys who, for the most part, seemed taller than most buildings in Kingston.

The Barons played against great teams from Allentown, Trenton, Sunbury, Williamsport and Scranton whose center, Bill Spivey, was 7-foot tall. Spivey also played for the Barons for a few seasons.

Barons’ Coach Chick Craig was another great guy who often “coached” us a little.

Memories of those days as a Junior Baron will never fade in my mind.

I may feel a little better if the old Stegmaier clock returns to its place high above the armory.

After all, it really is about time.