Until this week, nobody had ever heard of Wayne Hicken, even though he has been a central figure in some of Utah's grandest sporting events.
If there was a big basketball game in Utah, chances are Hicken was there. Larry Bird vs. Magic Johnson in the 1979 NCAA championship game in Salt Lake City. The Utah Stars' victory in the ABA championship game. The Utah Jazz's playoff games. He provided the pulse for all of them.Hicken is a timekeeper. He controls the official game clock. It is his finger that begins a game and ends it. It is his finger that signals the start of timeouts and beer commercials and sends you to the fridge for a Coke. It is his finger that calls you back again. It is his finger that teams are racing against when they're trying to beat the clock. It is his finger that starts celebrations and breaks hearts.
For 37 years Hicken has performed his job without incident. He was anonymous, and in this business, that means a job well done. You never know the timekeeper until he makes a mistake. Which is what happened in Game 4 of the Utah Jazz-Houston Rockets playoff series in the Delta Center on Sunday. Wouldn't you know that the one time he blows it, it would be on national television, in the Western Conference finals, with the game on the line and the home team on the brink of completing an amazing comeback.
When Utah's John Stockton drew a charging foul from Houston's Sam Cassell, Hicken's finger stopped the clock with 13.5 seconds remaining in the game and the Jazz down by two points. Moments later, the Jazz inbounded the ball, and the entire nation was held captive by the drama. Including Hicken. He was so mesmerized by the game that he did the unthinkable: He forgot to turn on the clock. For some nine seconds the game went on while time stood still.
It was only when he overheard people yelling something about the clock that Hicken remembered to start it. Utah's Tom Chambers took a shot at about the same time the clock began, which meant he would have beat the clock anyway, even if it been running; Chambers missed the shot, and Houston rebounded and played out the clock, including the extra nine seconds.
The bottom line is that Hicken's gaffe didn't affect the game one whit, but that didn't prevent it from becoming a major nationwide controversy that brought swift action. When Hicken got home after the game, he received a phone call from Jazz officials. They told him he wouldn't work the next home contest, Game 6 - if there is one - by order of the NBA. What they didn't tell Hicken is that he might not be allowed to resume his old job next season. One Jazz official said that decision "might be out of our hands."
The NBA could exact more punishment, such as permanent banishment of Hicken as a scorekeeper. That might appease the thousands of Rocket fans who saw Hicken's error as homerism rather than as a mistake - one that could have been disastrous but wasn't.
The irony is, if anyone should understand Hicken it is the basketball fan, because Wayne Hicken is one of them. Nearly four decades ago, as a student at the University of Utah, he loved basketball games so much that he would do almost anything to watch one.
The problem then was that Ute games were played in a tiny fieldhouse, and seats were limited. Hicken couldn't get a ticket, but that didn't stop him. He asked the Utes' freshman coach, Ladell Andersen, how he could get into a game. Andersen made him a timekeeper. Hicken has been the keeper of time ever since then, with a front-row seat at most of the best basketball games in the state.
During those 37 years he has timed University of Utah home basketball games, for free, as well as the NCAA tournament games that are held at the university. He also has timed all home games for Salt Lake's professional teams, including the now-extinct Stars and Prospectors. Since 1979, while continuing to time University of Utah games, he also has doubled as timekeeper for Utah Jazz home games for an undisclosed fee.
"I just like the game," says Hicken, who is a manufacturer's rep by day. "That's all."
Hicken says that in all his years of keeping time he has never made a serious mistake. Until Sunday. With the game on the line, he was transformed from a timekeeper into a fulltime fan.
"I got caught up in the game and didn't start the clock," he says. "What else can you say? There's no controversy. I forgot to turn on the clock."
He says this knowing well that there is a controversy, whether he thinks it's warranted or not. His wife screens the phone calls. "She's been watching the news," he says. "(The incident) has been building out of proportion. The nine seconds meant nothing to the outcome of the game. If you take the nine seconds out . . . Chambers shot with two seconds left."
Hicken has "no comment" regarding his suspension for Game 6, or, worse, for next season.
Asked about his future in keeping time for the Jazz, he answers as only a timekeeper would: "Time will tell what happens."
No pun intended.