Norman Black

Sportscaster Pinggoy Pengson dubbed him "That Old Black Magic" after a song from the 1950s.

Two years later, he returned to play for Magnolia Quench Plus, norming 43.5 points per game, while scoring his career best 76 points.

After Magnolia (later San Miguel Beer), left the league for a while, he played for rookie squad Alaska, after former Magnolia players were put in the new franchise.

After a short while, he returned to San Miguel as their playing coach in some import-laden conferences while acting as a full-time coach in the All-Filipino Conferences.

Norman Augustus Black (born November 12, 1957) is a Consultant to the San Beda University Red Lions Basketball team playing in the NCAA Philippines.

He is a former professional basketball player who played in the CBA, NBA, and PBA.

He's the former head coach for the Meralco Bolts.

He has since settled in the Philippines.

He is also a former head coach of the San Miguel Beermen, Mobiline Phone Pals, Pop Cola 800s, Sta. Lucia Realtors and Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters.

He has also coached the Ateneo Blue Eagles in the UAAP.

During his playing career, his moniker was Mr. 100%.

Black played high school basketball for the Cardinal Gibbons School in Baltimore where he graduated in 1975.

He then played for Saint Joseph's College in Pennsylvania from 1975 to 1979, averaging 17 points per game in his playing career.

Black later played in Continental Basketball Association from 1979 to 1982 for the Lancaster Red Roses and the Philadelphia Kings.

He also played for the Detroit Pistons in the National Basketball Association, but played only three games in the 1980–81 season, averaging 2.7 points per game.

In 1981, Black was playing in the Detroit Pistons' summer basketball league when he was offered a job on the other side of the world.

"Jimmy Mariano, who was coach of Great Taste at the time, asked me if I wanted to come over and play in the Philippines," he said.

The lure of guaranteed money, something the Pistons could not offer then, helped change his life in a way he could never have imagined.

However, by the time he returned Mariano's call, Big Lew Massey had taken the job.

But it did not take long before another Philippine Basketball Association club came calling.

Tefilin's General Manager Frank Harn offered the same contract as Mariano and he immediately took the offer.

In 1981, he made his PBA debut for Tefilin.

In 14 games, he averaged an outstanding 51 point per game, but failed to lead his team to a championship.

He returned to the Philippines in 1982, playing 66 games for San Miguel Beer and averaged close to 43 points per contest.

With him, locals Yoyong Martirez, Manny Paner, Marte Saldaña, and head coach Tommy Manotoc, San Miguel won the 1982 Invitational tournament against guest South Korea.

In 1983, he played for Great Taste Coffee and averaged 38 points in 49 games played.

Always considered an intelligent as well as a hard-working player, he became the recipient of the very first "Mr. 100% Award" in that season.

"It was former ambassador Danding Cojuangco who asked me to become a head coach in 1985," Black relates, "I had no desire to be a coach back then."

He went on to say that the former ambassador probably heard something in Black's voice while he was doing some analysis for the TV broadcast of the PBA that made Cojuangco believe he would be suited for coaching.

His coaching career started around 1985 and 1986, as a playing coach.

But by 1987, he became San Miguel's full-time coach until 1996, when he left the Beermen.

In 1989, he played and coached the Beermen to a rare Grand Slam, the third in PBA history.

He won nine championships as head coach of San Miguel including a Grandslam in 1989 making San Miguel the winningest team in the PBA, coaching some of the best players in PBA history such as superstars Samboy Lim, Allan Caidic, Hector Calma, Ramon Fernandez, Ricky Brown, Ato Agustin and role players Alvin Teng, Yves Dignadice, Art dela Cruz, Franz Pumaren, Elmer Reyes, Jeffrey Graves, Pido Jarencio, Bobby Jose, Romy Lopez, Josel Angeles, Ricky Cui, Kevin Ramas, Bong Ravena, and Dong Polistico.

In 1990, he played his last complete season as a player before finally focusing his duties as head coach in 1991.

In 1994, he was named head coach of the Philippine Team in the Hiroshima Asian Games, after the Beermen won the All-Filipino Cup.

However, the country went home without a medal in basketball, after placing fourth.

In 1996, with San Miguel needing an import, he played as a temporary import for the Beermen and scored 15 points.

After almost a decade with San Miguel, he became the head coach of the young Mobiline Phone Pals in 1997.

But after the Commissioner's Cup, he became the coach of the struggling Pop Cola squad.

He led the 800's to two third-place finishes with Vergel Meneses, Bonel Balingit, and Kenneth Duremdes on the team.