Norman Black

American basketball player
the U. S. federal judge

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. 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. 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. In 1989, he played and coached the Beermen to a rare Grand Slam, the third in PBA history. In 1990, he played his last complete season as a player before finally focusing his duties as head coach in 1991.

"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. At the end of the UAAP season, the Blue Eagles won another championship, their fifth in a row this time in a rematch against their 2006 Finals opponent the UST Growling Tigers by sweeping the series with a score of 83–78 in Game 1, and 65–62 in Game 2. With this achievement, he became only the second coach in the history of the UAAP to win five straight UAAP championship after Baby Dalupan who have won seven straight championships (Season 28–34) with the UE Red Warriors.

After winning five straight titles for Ateneo, Black returned to coaching in the PBA, with the star studded Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters. While coaching the Texters, he became the latest member of the 500 win coaching club. He also guided the Texters to their third straight All Filipino crown for the 2012–13 PBA season.

In 2014, the teams under MVP group reshuffles its coaching staff. Black was assigned to be the coach for the Meralco Bolts, while Jong Uichico replaced him as head coach for Talk 'N Text. In his first conference with the Bolts in 2014–15 Philippine Cup, his team clinched the top six in the eliminations with a 6–5 win–loss record. They entered the quarterfinals as the sixth seed with twice to beat advantage over Purefoods and dethroned the defending champions in the process. Few days after, the Bolts lost to Alaska in the knockout round. On the 2016 Governors' Cup Finals, Black returned to the championship series once again and led Meralco to their first finals appearance to face the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel led by another of the winningest coaches, Tim Cone, but lost to Barangay Ginebra in Game 6. The next Governors' Cup, he led the Bolts to its best finish in the eliminations with a 9 – 2 win – loss record for the 1st seed and a twice to beat advantage in the quarterfinals. Meralco then defeated the Blackwater Elite in two games and the Star Hotshots in the semifinals for three straight games and booked a finals rematch against Ginebra. However, the Bolts still lost the series in seven games.

Season Eliminations PlayoffsWLPCTFinishPGWLPCTResultsAteneo de Manila Blue Eagles (UAAP)2005 10 4 .714 3rd 2 1 1 .500 Final Four2006 10 2 .833 1st 4 2 2 .500 Finals2007 9 5 .643 3rd 4 2 2 .500 2nd Round Semifinals2008 13 1 .929 1st 3 3 0 1.000 Champions2009 13 1 .929 1st 4 3 1 .750 Champions2010 10 4 .714 2nd 3 3 0 1.000 Champions2011 13 1 .929 1st 3 3 0 1.000 Champions2012 12 2 .857 1st 3 3 0 1.000 ChampionsTotals 90 20 .818 26 20 6 .769 5 championships

Black is married to Benjie Davila. His son Aaron is also a basketball player with his team, the Meralco Bolts.