
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, November 18, 1993                   TAG: 9311180189
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-7   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: DURHAM, N.C.                                LENGTH: Short

FORMER REFEREE INTRODUCES NEW BASKETBALL CLOCK

A former NBA official has invented a high-tech timing device that he claims could revolutionize basketball and replace time lost due to the human reaction of clock operators.

Michael Costabile, 34, a referee for four years in the NBA, was given a patent recently for a wireless timing system designed for sports arenas.

"The way the game is going, the players have gotten better, the officials have gotten better, the equipment has gotten better," he said. "We just need to consistently keep upgrading it.

"This allows the official to have complete control of the game clock, 100 percent."

The system is keyed to the referee's whistle through a transmitter at the scorer's table. When the whistle is blown, the clock stops immediately. Officials use a device similar to a pager worn on the belt to restart the clock.

Costabile said the system has a range of 1,000 feet and, because of the coded transmitter, there's more than a million-to-one chance someone in the stands could break the code with another whistle.

The official timer would still be used as a backup, he said.

"We are not going to fire the timer, the scorer," Costabile said. "Whoever presses their button first starts the clock. He [the timer] will always be behind, every single time."

by CNB