Bleachers' Brew #124 Hill Street Black & Blues Part 2

(This appears in my column in the Monday, September 15, 2008 edition of the Business Mirror.)

Hill Street Black & Blues Part 2
by rick olivares
photo by non felipe

“Mom, you won’t believe this… they actually want me to play the whole game here,” related an excited Norman Black. Liberated from the freezing east coast winters and the 10-day contracts and second tier-ball in the United States, the former Detroit Piston packed his bags and flew to the other side of the world in a country he got to know in an encyclopedia. “And get this, mom. People are actually betting if I’ll score 50 points or less!”

It was every bit a paradise in the tropics. For a hoops junkie like Black, it was an ideal situation after playing well in college and not being given a chance to showcase his abilities in the NBA. Furthermore, they were paid well and more importantly, on time unlike in the European or South American leagues where more often than not, plying their trade there was a risk.

It was a vastly different time in the Philippine Basketball Association -- imports were expected to play the entire 48 minutes, score a ton of points, play great defense, and swoop in for death-defying dunks. If they couldn’t tow their teams to wins, the finals, or even score (not necessarily in that order), they were branded as “lemons” and sent home post haste. Black wasn’t in country for a week when he suffered a groin injury that put Tefilin team management in a quandary. Black seemed am ideal import for the team but they needed him for the season opener. The father of Tefilin General Manager Frank Harn worked at St. Luke’s Hospital and Black received daily treatment -- sometimes twice a day – that got him healthy in time for the season opener.

It was at that time he began a life-long friendship with the late Emilio “Jun” Bernardino who was working with Tefilin. Bernardino literally took Black in as he was given temporary living quarters in the family home. “I was taught the ropes early on,” recalled the American benchmaster of those early days as a wide-eyed import. “The do’s and don’ts were rolled out for me such as don’t stay out late because if you didn’t play well and the team lost, you’ were going to get blamed for it. I took that to heart and I’m glad I did because it helped me in terms of longevity. What foreigners should know about Filipinos is that they’re a friendly and hospitable people. They will reward you with you with love, attention, money, praise… all of that stuff but you never shortchange them on the court. You give your all or they will turn on you.”

The Continental Basketball Association back then was considered the top pro league outside the National Basketball Association. All the CBA’s top scorers -- Lew Massey, Al Green, Donnie Ray Koonce, Andy Fields, Francoise Wise, and Michael Young -- were in the PBA and competition was plenty fierce. “I realized that what I went through – learning how to get the ball by rebounding if I wanted a chance to shoot, playing defense, and leading my college team in scoring gave me the tools to help my ballcubs.”

“Mom, you won’t believe this… they’re so crazy about basketball here,” exclaimed an excited and bewildered Norman Black during one overseas call. “There are these two teams --- Crispa and Toyota – they’re rivals and they absolutely do not like each other. And that goes all the way from the players to the fans. It’s like a war!”

Playing for then the “lower tier” clubs like Tefilin and San Miguel, Black quickly learned that it was the highlight of a team’s season if they could beat Crispa or Toyota in any game.

A hallmark of Black’s character was his willingness to listen and learn; something that would pay great dividends later as a coach: “I never wanted to be branded as ‘uncoachable’ so I never wanted to be told twice of what to do. You could say that I was a coach’s player.”

There were rules governing the height limit of imports that changed with every conference and Black (who stands 6’4”) was forced to sit it out at times. In order to stay in the game, he began doing that staple of every PBA telecast, Burlington Basketball Tips. His degree in Communications kicked in as he parlayed those premiums into a spot on the broadcast panel initially as a scriptwriter then eventually as an analyst. “It helped that I played against many of these players so I knew how to take things apart,” he said. “Seeing things from that perspective would later help me as a coach but it was fun learning fro the best in the business. There was the late Joe Cantada and Pinggoy Pengson. Joaqui Trillo, Tim Cone, and many others who made the game fun and a great learning experience. How can you not learn? I tell you, I had so much fun there.”

But it wasn’t fun when he saw players like Tony Harris and Carlos Briggs tearing up the league with their scoring exploits. “Thank God, I didn’t have to guard them. They were scoring machines,” laughed Black about those bygone days when imports would put up spectacular numbers. “I always had a tough time with Andy Fields, Michael Hackett, and David Thirdkill. I knew I was in for a long night. But hands down the best imports – I’d say there are two: Billy Ray Bates and Bobby Parks.”

One day Black received a phone call from San Miguel Corporation Chairman Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco Jr. one early morning. The resident import thought that the Beermen, as the team was known by, was going to sign him up as an import. But he received the surprise of his life when he was offered the dual position of player-coach. Cojuangco made it clear that he was investing in Black as a person. He was going to be employed with SMC where they would spare no expense in turning the franchise into a winning club. “I was given a four-year contract and I had zero experience. You bet I had more than butterflies in my stomach,” admitted Black. “I was taking on a young club with obvious rising talents but we all had to learn on the job. Honestly, I think I survived because I was still a very good player and it helped that I could put up the numbers. That helped because I led by example and people followed.”

At this time, Black received a hot tip from an American-based Filipino scout, Bobby Rius (who played alongside Ricky Palou and Chito Afable on the Ateneo Blue Eagles). The San Miguel Coach flew to Los Angeles where he met Parks and to see what he could do, they played a game of two-on-two. “Within five minutes, I knew that I had my player,” laughed Black of the introduction to ‘Memphis Slim’ as Parks was known. “Plus he dunked on us several times too!”

Parks went on to play only one conference for San Miguel as Black was the resident import. He was eventually let go to Shell which he helped to several titles. “That was a tough decision,” said Black of letting Memphis Slim go. But we also got some pretty good imports to replace him like Michael Phelps.

Even as his skills declined, Black turned out to be a very good mentor as San Miguel won nine titles under his watch including a rare Grand Slam in 1989. In 2000, he won his 10^th PBA crown with Sta. Lucia.

It was around this time that Ateneo De Manila found renewed success with its re-tooled basketball program. In 2004, an old friend came calling to bring him to Loyola. Ricky Palou, Black’s partner in Sports Vision (a company put up by Jun Bernardino, Palou, and a few others) came calling. Palou at that time was working with then-Athletic Director Jose Capistrano and the two received a mandate to bring in an American coach to give the program a different look. “I asked the Program heads why go to the US to sign someone new when we had someone here already,” told Palou of the decision to bring Black to Ateneo.

And the rest as they say is history.

“I love my job,” beamed the fourth year Blue Eagle mentor. “It’s like coming home having gone to a Jesuit university in America. I have fun working with the kids, teaching them, transferring what I know, and helping them get to the pros. That’s a huge reward in itself. And I love it. I’m a lucky man what can I say.” Now he’s on the cusp of leading Ateneo to its fourth UAAP title and his first as an amateur coach.

Funny how things worked for the uphill Baltimore kid who went down from the hill.

Here's the Business Mirror link:
http://businessmirror.com.ph/09152008/sports06.html

Author's Note: Congratulations on making the UAAP Finals, coach! See ya soon!