That not-so-old Black magic

The immortal song “That Old Black Magic” was written in 1942 and remains a popular tune with versions by a slew of artists including Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Tony Bennett, Rosemary Clooney, Billy Daniels, Doris Day, Ella Fitzgerald, Tom Jones, Van Morrison, Judy Garland and even Marilyn Monroe and Jerry Lewis.

In basketball, the song predates Ateneo’s three-peat UAAP championship coach Norman Black who was born on Nov. 12, 1957, but it seems so relevant in affirming what he has accomplished in his storied basketball career. “That Old Black Magic” is a spell that the Philadelphia Big 5 Hall of Famer has cast on his foes since playing for Cardinal Gibbons High School in Baltimore in the 1970s even as he’s really not that old.

Only two players from Cardinal Gibbons made it to the NBA – Black with the Detroit Pistons in 1980-81 and Quintin Dailey with the Chicago Bulls in 1982-86, Los Angeles Clippers in 1986-89 and Seattle SuperSonics in 1990-91. From high school, Black went on to play four years at St. Joseph’s, a private Jesuit school in Philadelphia, under coach Jim Lynam. From the NCAA, Black tore up the Continental league where he poured in 53 points in a game against Scranton in 1980. He averaged 27.3 points for the Philadelphia Kings that year. In 1985, he was inducted into the Philadelphia Big 5 Hall of Fame, honoring stars from the city’s five NCAA Division I schools.

As a player and coach, Black was a standout in the PBA. He suited up for Tefilin, San Miguel Beer, Great Taste, Alaska and Pop Cola in a 10-year career. Believe it or not, Black averaged 40.2 points in 282 total games and once hit 76 points despite not scoring a single triple. In 1998, Black played his last PBA game in a cameo role, coming out of retirement to lead Pop Cola to third place in the Commissioner’s Cup as a 41-year-old “replacement” import while serving as coach. In all, Black was a PBA coach for 17 years, collecting 10 championships, nine with San Miguel – including a grand slam in 1989 – and one with Sta. Lucia Realty in 2001.

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In 2005, Black took over as the Blue Eagles head coach, almost like a return to his roots as Ateneo and St. Joseph’s are both Jesuit schools.

After piloting the Eagles to their third straight UAAP senior men’s championship, Black said the victory had to be a highlight of his life.

“By far, this was the most gratifying win in my collegiate career because we did it as a team,” said Black. “I knew before the season, we had to work as a team to win. We had no one dominant player like a Rabeh Al-Hussaini. I’ve always believed that the sum of all parts will get things done rather than the individual parts working separately. We never knew who was going to be our high scorer in every game because anyone was capable of taking charge. None of our players made it to the mythical five but I think that’s the mark of a successful team because no one star carried us. We won as a team.”

Black said he anticipated FEU to come out with guns blazing in Game 2 of the finals.

“Before going out to play, I told the guys in the dugout to expect FEU to make a strong start but if we’re able to hang in there in the first six minutes, we’ll be fine,” said Black. “Sure enough, they made a charge but we weathered it. We came back and got it done. We recognized how important R. R. Garcia is to FEU so we figured out a way to neutralize him by putting Emman (Monfort) on him. We made some changes in our pick-and-roll and post defense. We lost to FEU twice in the eliminations but they weren’t conclusive. We knew what we had to do to win in the finals.”

Black said there has been little time to savor the victory because coaching collegiate basketball is almost a yearlong commitment. “We’re always looking ahead,” he said. “After the UAAP, there’s the Unigames then the Champions League, the Fr. Martin Cup, the Filoil league and so on. Before you know it, the next UAAP season is coming.”

Black said next season, Ateneo will be even stronger with 7-foot Greg Slaughter in the mix. Slaughter has two years of UAAP eligibility. The Eagles are also bringing in rookies Kiefer Ravena, Gwynne Capacio, Mark Tallao and Von Pessumal. They’re also reactivating Oping Sumalinog who sat out last season recovering from an ACL injury. Only Eric Salamat and Jason Escueta are leaving the team, giving Black a problem he doesn’t mind – which players to suit up next season with a strong rookie class and holdovers like Ryan Buenafe, Monfort, Nico Salva, Kirk Long and Justin Chua.

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What makes the collegiate game so exciting is its unpredictability, said Black, especially when Ateneo plays archrival La Salle.

“School spirit is so strong in the collegiate game,” said Black. “You’ll see a team with lesser talent upset a team with superior talent because of that X-factor, school spirit. But that’s where as a coach, you’ve got to make sure your team is focused to play hard, no matter what. With our team this year, nobody had an idea of who was going to be the main guy on the floor in any game. We set our goal to become the league’s top defensive team and we did it. Not only did we top the league in least points allowed but also in lowest field goal percentage allowed and highest point differential. Additionally, we were No. 1 in fastbreak points and assists.”

Black said he was recently invited by SBP executive director Noli Eala to coach the national team in the next Southeast Asian Games.

“It’ll be an honor to do it,” said Black. “I’ve lived 29 years in the Philippines and I’ll never turn down our national team which I coached in the Asian Games in 1994. I imagine we’ll enlist collegiate players as coach Rajko (Toroman) coaches the senior national team. It’ll be a challenge working with collegiate players in a competition like the Southeast Asian Games. More than anything, it’ll be an honor for me.”

Ateneo team manager Paolo Trillo said yesterday as a reward, the Ateneo championship team will take a trip to Hong Kong and Macau, tentatively on Nov. 1-4 with Boracay as another destination. Last year, the team was treated to a vacation in Boracay and Hong Kong.