Coach Black

The future Texas High School Hall of Famer led the Mustangs, along with his teammate O’Neal Weaver, to a 109-8 record his junior and senior seasons.

Black was a three-year letterwinner at guard for Texas (1950-53). He returned to Texas as an assistant coach for three years (1964-65 through 1966-67) under Harold Bradley. The Longhorns were Southwest Conference co-champions in the 1964-65 season.

His vision and love for the University of Texas has helped the program to this day. He was inducted into the UT Hall of Honor in 1989 and the Greater Austin Sports Foundation Hall of Honor in 2020.

Another link to Coach Leon Black is listed below.
 

https://www.texaslsn.org/coach-leon-black

in the 1960s and 1970’s race, facilities, and Image hurt recruiting at Texas 

In the 60’s and 70s, Texas lost many great African American basketball recruits due to UT’s history of racial intolerance. Harold Bradley experienced this rejection first hand. Twice Coach Bradley thought that he had crossed the race barrier, but he failed. James Cash was his best chance to recruit a black athlete. To show his commitment to Cash, he visited the Austin City Council and urged the human rights commission to show that Texas improved race relations. Unfortunately, Cash chose TCU over Texas.  

Coach Bradley was also so convinced that Lew Alcindor would attend Texas he had a preliminary press release written. But, with a sense of understanding, Bill Little said of Coach Bradley’s plight, “there were legitimate concerns on how do you integrate when you’ve had nothing that is an example of it.”   

From 1959-1976 the Longhorn basketball teams only participated in 4 NCAA tournaments and only won the SWC championship four times in 17 years.  

Racial issues were not the only barrier to great basketball at Texas. When the national interest in college basketball grew exponentially, the Longhorns played in a small, uneconomical, and antiquated facility (Gregory Gym) at a University that thought football was the only NCAA sport.  

Economics

Coach Black said that “Texas could only guarantee a visiting team $1300.” A ridiculous amount even in the ’60s. Few great basketball teams from the East or West coast chose to play Texas in Austin with a guarantee to lose money. Recruiting great athletes to play in Gregory was nearly an impossible task. The same with great basketball high school athletes who chose to play at Universities with large fan bases in arenas that reflected the proper respect for the sport of basketball. Texas had neither.  

UT Media

Then, UT’s in-house media department made a huge mistake that promoted UT as a two-sport school- Fall football and Spring football. Coach Black said, “We always had that back seat.” “Every time I went to recruit somebody, they had that article. And the recruit said, ‘Why should I come to Texas? Here’s your SID saying there are two sports at Texas, and basketball is not one of them.” 

The Plan

Coach Black said that The UT Administration, coaches, and donors were all aware of these structural recruiting handicaps. So, the UT decision-makers focused on rebuilding perceptions, realities, and facilities for the next ten years. The photo below is Dan Krueger and Leon Black with the new basketball skeletal structure in the background.

https://www.texaslsn.org/rodney-page-and-leon-black

 Rodney Page remembers his special bond with Leon Black. Rodney says

• As 1973 rolled around, I became the UT Women’s Basketball coach and our mutually beneficial relationship continued and accelerated.  Wow!  To say that we were on a shoestring budget would be an understatement.  Our salvation was Leon Black.  Let’s be clear, no money or funds changed hands.  Yet, Leon Black’s generosity and benevolence were worth a shipment of gold.  Let me count the ways: Equipment, facilities, and manpower in terms of freedom to utilize his managers and trainers.   We experienced many firsts in that first year and Leon Black had a great deal to do with that.  He was so willing, so genuine, and so true.  Specifically speaking, we shared basketballs with the men’s program as we had a very limited budget.  Men and women were using the same sized basketball in the early years.  Sometimes I would trade a brand new basketball for two lightly used men’s basketballs as I was trying to increase our equipment for the women’s team.  Hustling was an everyday thing for me.  We had no training budget, but Leon was gracious enough to allow us to utilize his trainers as well as often providing tape and other training supplies and equipment from the men’s supply.  We also shared the men’s video equipment and utilized their film room.  In addition, everything related to the Gregory Gym clock was shared with us.  Last but not least, Leon offered me the use of his basketball office phone for long-distance calls for recruiting purposes since we technically had no recruiting budget.

• That first year Leon and I collaborated on several doubleheader basketball games with the women’s game preceding the men’s game.  Another first made possible by a willingness and generosity of spirit.  This proved to be a very successful venture and helped our women’s basketball program to be showcased in a more positive and legitimate light. It was so easy working with Leon, as we were kindred spirits in many respects.  I can only imagine how difficult our path would have been without the assistance of Leon Black.  That says something about the heart and spirit of the man. 

• Friendly, courteous, genuine, honest, determined, truthful, concerned, cooperative, and gracious are a few words that come to mind when I think of Leon Black.  I remember first meeting Leon in the fall of 1972.  I was early in my tenure of teaching Physical Instruction classes in Gregory Gym when our paths crossed.   His genuine, friendly spirit was the first thing I noticed about him.  Little did I know at our first meeting that it would be the beginning of a special mutually beneficial relationship steeped in truth, trust, and honesty.

1. Thank you! What a great friend and coach! You know when I came out of Palestine, Leon Black offered me my first Scholarship in 1965 to come to play at Lon Morris on a basketball ???? scholarship!

2. He was my mentor at the time! I loved him like a father! We are gonna celebrate his life forever! Luv ya BillyBradley!

3. He was a great coach and a great man. Prayers for him and the family gem- George Machock

4. After Coach Black was removed as Head Basketball coach and reassigned to oversee the concessions at DKR we had casual contact I was working for the vendor who had the concessions contract. 1979 football season I think! Sad news, and thanks for sharing! Hook’em – Guy Clemmons

5. Thanks for the update Billy…when I arrived at UT in 1998, Leon was still serving with the athletic department after his transition to academic support…he didn’t try and tell me how to behave or how to run my office, but merely offered some sage advice and the opportunity to talk about how the academic support office had been run in the past, some of the many pitfalls on campus, and gave me enough to think about on how to strategically make some changes that both served the student-athletes and fit with what Coach Brown expected of my and my unit. I’ll always be grateful for his advice and his quiet leadership. Brian Davis

6. Blessings in memory of Leon Black… a noble, visionary and gutty gentleman and coach…much beloved for his groundbreaking recruiting of black student-athletes to Texas….a beloved and revered figure in Texas Athletics history…prayers up to his wonderful family. We loved and admired Leon. Chris Plonsky

Larry Don Mordica

Sorry for your loss Chuck. Lot of good memories were made at Gregory gym back in the day!

Bohls: Former Texas coach Leon Black left a legacy of admirers of his integrity, decency

Kirk BohlsHookem

• Leon Black, a successful Texas basketball coach and pioneer in recruiting, died Tuesday at 89.

• Black was as genuine and caring as any Longhorn coach ever, and his players loved him.

• “Coach Black was among the most warm, most kind and most genuine people ever,” Shaka Smart said.

Leon Black died Tuesday morning.

No, this time he really did.

So this is actually the second obituary I’m writing on the Texas basketball coaching legend who passed peacefully in his home at age 89 after battling failing kidneys and a heart condition.

I call him a legend because Black’s legacy had less to do with a won-lost record that didn’t even reach the .500 level but so much more to do with how this humble man touched lives and impacted careers of anyone who came into contact with him. He was as authentic and beautiful as a Texas sunset, a man of integrity and decency. 

I penned the first obit about this wonderful saint of a man about 17 months ago when one of his sons, Jason, notified me that his father was on his last legs and hospice was on the scene. 

So much for those plans. Death could wait. You learned not to sell Leon Black short.

You see, Black was a fighter if nothing else. But the genuine, Scriptures-reading, gritty but good-natured farm boy from Martin’s Mill in East Texas was so much more than that. 

Black was a feisty, competitive, ultra-positive, fundamental-emphasizing coach who never cut corners and produced two Southwest Conference championships and a colossal upset of Houston in a 1972 NCAA Tournament game for a Sweet 16 berth.

He could be dry in personality but had an acerbic wit about him. “I don’t know why but we had a bond,” former Longhorns coach Rick Barnes said. “He’s been an inspiration for a lot of people. I’m really sad today. I never ever heard him say one negative thing about the University of Texas. I love Leon Black. As a man, I don’t know if I’ve ever met a finer person.” Humility came naturally to Black.

Current Texas coach Chris Beard, too, has hung on Black’s every word. He recently took his entire team to visit the former coach. So, too, did former Horns coach Shaka Smart listen at his elbow.

“Coach Black was among the most warm, most kind and most genuine people I’ve ever come across,” Smart said Tuesday from Marquette. “There are two things that will always stand out to me. One was the absolute presence and authenticity he exhibited every single time I saw him. It was rare. The other was the incredibly special way his former players spoke about him.”

Before that college career as a Longhorn, Black was one terrific, pint-sized point guard, a 5-foot-8 dervish who could dunk after a single step and leap with the best of them. He even jumped center as a UT freshman and told me recently, “I got most of all the first tips.” He may not have been a dead-eye shooter like Jimmy Chitwood in “Hoosiers,” but he had all of Jimmy’s other small-town, country-first values.

He was an ardent patriot, having served in the U.S. Army.

He was a loving husband of 64 years to Peggy, a bursting-with-pride dad of four and granddad of six, just a super human being whom his friends and this jaded sportswriter absolutely adored. There wasn’t a Longhorns home game where we didn’t have a chat in the media room before the game or at halftime over pie. The man did have a sweet tooth.

And he was a lousy golfer. Let’s be real. He rarely missed those 7:30 a.m. tee times three times a week at Barton Creek Country Club with his buddies and, for all his wayward drives, he’d search for other lost balls throughout the course and always end up his round with more balls than he started and then treat himself to a chocolate chip cookie on the 19th hole.

Yeah, he was a teetotaler, whose vices were limited to Red Man chewing tobacco, a nightly tradition of Blue Bell homemade vanilla ice cream not unlike another Longhorn treasure Cliff Gustafson and black bass fishing with friends like David McWilliams and Bill Bethea and Ron Franklin.

He was also a trailblazer, recruiting Black players that previously would look down their noses at one of the whitest schools in the South and sneer at the size of Gregory Gym. Why should they consider a school that marked football and spring football as its top two sports? But he landed the first seven Black scholarship players in school history.

He was a by-the-book gentleman who lived by the rules and didn’t mind turning in those who didn’t. His family still recalls the harassment they endured from Texas A&M apologists who came hard after Leon for reporting rules violations. Mad Aggies would derisively honk their angry horns in his neighborhood and sent taxi cabs to his address at late hours, all the while forgetting who did the cheating.

He was a consummate Longhorns fan, choosing to play for Texas despite offers from every SWC school as well as LSU and Notre Dame. And even after getting forced out for his lacking 106-121 record, he knew no bitterness and, after his dismissal in 1976, sat in his same Erwin Center seats for every home game but three up until 2018.

And even though he didn’t have the best record or produce the most banners that hang in the Frank Erwin Center that he helped lay the foundation for, Black was a champion in the standings that count the most.

He impacted people. And he made it acceptable for Blacks to come to Austin. He was instrumental in lifting the color barrier at Texas, luring exceptional ball-handler Jimmy Blacklock, who later became a Harlem Globetrotter, future San Antonio Spurs point guard Johnny Moore and one of the school’s all-time best big men, Larry Robinson. This pioneer also convinced a Black athlete from the UT track team, Sam Bradley, to join his basketball team as well in 1968.

“He treated me just like he’d treat a son,” said Blacklock, who almost went to Michigan State out of Tyler Junior College before choosing UT. “It was uncomfortable to a degree, and some of the white players didn’t embrace me with open arms except for Lynn Howden, who was such a genuine guy. But Leon was always the same guy, the same then and the same today. He was a man’s man.”

He was indeed, a true legend.

Black is survived by his wife, Peggy, son Chuck Black, daughter Natalie Hetherly and her husband Mike Hetherly. son Jason Black and his wife Kelly Black as well as grandchildren Blake and Brandon Hetherly, Gaston and Chantal Reeder, Ally and Katie Black.

Not to mention a whole host of admirers who appreciated just being called his friend.

Coach Leon Black

FEBRUARY 21, 1932 – OCTOBER 12, 2021

Obituary of Coach Leon Black

Leon Black, 89, Austin, TX – “Coach Black” to the many who knew and loved him – spent a lifetime built around three key pillars: Faith, Family and Friendships. Coach Black put God first in all that he did and made a positive impact in all the lives he touched. He went on to be with his Savior on Oct. 12, 2021, comfortably in his home surrounded by family.

Born February 21, 1932 to Peron and Lillian Black, Leon grew up on his family’s farm in the small East Texas community of Martin’s Mill. Leon spent much of his youth picking cotton, grappling for catfish, and studying the Bible. Each morning, while doing his daily chores to feed the livestock, he trained himself to jump extraordinarily high, leaping up to touch ever-higher branches. By the time he was playing organized high-school basketball, Leon was renowned for his jumping talent – he could take a single step and dunk the ball, or with a running start, put either elbow up on the rim. People traveled across the state to see this leaping 5’ 8” farm boy. During his senior year, Leon served as both the Mighty Mustangs’ acting coach and starting point guard, leading his team of seven to a 54-4 record season and on to win the 1949 Texas State Championship. A true Texas version of “Hoosiers.” Over Black’s junior and senior year, this gritty team had a record of 109-8. Black would later be inducted into the Texas High School Hall of Fame.

The University of Texas at Austin men’s basketball coach at the time, Jack Gray, liked what he saw in young Leon at those championship games – his passion, discipline, grit, and uncompromising work ethic all shone through. And, as fate would have it, Leon longed to become a Longhorn. Although he received scholarship offers from seven Southwest Conference schools, as well as the University of Oklahoma, Louisiana State University, and Notre Dame, Black chose UT Austin as his new home.

From 1949-1953, Leon lettered in varsity basketball at the University of Texas, he became the team’s starting point guard and eventually, captain. A relatively small player at 5’8”, Black excelled at defense, and created his own scoring opportunities via super-speed reactions and remarkable rebound skills. Black graduated with his bachelor’s degree and his Master of Education and was a proud member of the Texas Cowboys, an honorary men’s service and spirit organization.

Following a brief period of service in the U.S. Army, Leon returned to Texas to launch his coaching career. He began at Schreiner University in Central Texas, then moved back to East Texas to coach at Van High School and Lon Morris College. During this time, Coach Black met and married the love of his life, Peggy Ann Chamblee, an East Texas beauty. They started a family, which grew to include four children – Chuck, Natalie, Audrey, and Jason, and were lovingly married for 64 blissful years.

Having led the Van HS Vandals to a 26-6 record in 1959, Coach Black really began to hit his stride at Lon Morris. There, he built a 131-37 record over five years, leading the Bearcats to a runner-up spot in the 1962 NJCAA National Tournament, an unbeaten record in the 1963 Texas Eastern Conference, and a 7th-place national finish in 1964. Coach Black was named Jacksonville [TX] Young Man of the Year and National Coach of the Year during his tenure at Lon Morris, but often noted he was most proud that every one of his players continued on to a four-year college and earned their degree.

In 1965, Coach Black was hired by his former coach, Bradley, as an assistant coach for the Longhorns. Three years later, Black took over as Texas’ head coach. Black’s legacy at Texas represents much more than statistics. He arrived at a time of historical transition at the University and in society when moral leadership was required. Coach Black was the man for the job.

Coach Black was responsible for integrating Texas’ basketball program by recruiting the Longhorns’ first seven African-American players. For Coach Black, race was a non-factor. He always treated everyone – students, colleagues, even some Aggies – consistently, with dignity and respect. Coach Black’s goal at Texas was to positively shape young men, to help students become better people through athletics. He never backed down from a fight, especially if it meant doing the right thing. Among the first African-American players Coach Black successfully recruited into the UT basketball program were: Jimmy Blacklock, Larry Robinson, Johnny Moore and Ovie Dotson, all of whom went on to have professional basketball careers.

These players will all tell you that as a coach Leon Black was a disciplined and disciplinary father figure. He held himself and everyone else to relentlessly high standards. He ran an extremely tight ship – players were expected to be clean-cut, facial-hair-free, no tattoos, no swearing, no shortcuts. He didn’t believe in taking the easy way out, and frequently reiterated this favorite maxim: “If it were easy, then everyone would do it.” Coach Black’s style was to “play anyone, anywhere” to best prepare his teams for tournament competition.

In recruiting gifted players to UT, Coach Black faced many headwinds – the ancient, decaying Gregory Gymnasium, a perception that the University of Texas was not welcoming to African-American players, the sports publicist Jones Ramsey declaring the only two sports at Texas were football and spring football and the widespread ramp-up in pay-to-play recruiting in the Southwest Conference.

Coach Black ushered UT Austin into the modern sports era, following two Southwest Conference championships, and a milestone upset of the University of Houston that put Texas into the Sweet 16 in the 1972 NCAA Tournament, as well as being named 1974 Southwest Conference Coach of the Year and Coach of the Year – Southwest Region by Coach & Athlete Magazine.

During Coach Black’s tenure, “alternative recruiting strategies” in the Southwest Conference were rampant and blatant. Black loathed the obvious corruption. After losing a few more top recruits to Texas A&M, Black reported Texas A&M University to the NCAA for multiple recruiting violations, which led to probation sanctions for the Aggies. This period was very difficult for Coach Black and his family, as enraged A&M fans harassed and threatened them, even in their own home.

The harassment of his family contributed to Coach Black’s 1976 resignation as head coach after 8 years, but by that time, his mark had been made. By being himself and standing by his own values, Black changed the panoramic view of Texas men’s basketball forever. Under his leadership, racial tensions diminished, black athletes and their extended families became loyal Longhorns, and a solid foundation for a winning basketball program was laid. Additionally, before stepping down, Black ensured Gregory Gym was set for retirement, too; he led efforts in funding for a new state-of-the-art multi-use arena – later dubbed the Frank C. Erwin Center.

Following his resignation, Coach Black received other offers to continue coaching elsewhere – most notably from other Southwest Conference schools and from the Mexican Olympic basketball team. But Coach Black was a Longhorn for life – he accepted and held a position as an Assistant Athletic Director until his 2008 retirement. In post-retirement, Coach Black was a strong supporter of the program and cherished his special friendships with Coach Rick Barnes and Coach Shaka Smart. The byproduct of his passion for UT basketball is a record that won’t show up on any books: for 54 years [1964-2018], Black only missed three home basketball games. During the Eyes of Texas after a victorious game, Coach Black would be seen with a tear in his eye beaming with pride for his alma mater.

Coach Black had a truly special 70+-year relationship with The University of Texas at Austin; the school provided a farm boy from East Texas with the opportunity to get a good education, to follow his passion of coaching, and to build lifelong relationships with Longhorn Nation. UT was good to Leon Black, and he was great for Texas athletics. Coach Black was inducted into the UT Hall of Honor in 1989 and the Greater Austin Sports Foundation Hall of Honor in 2020.

As you might expect, UT Austin was a large presence in Black’s family life, too. Though his coaching/recruiting schedule often kept Black away from home, his eldest son, Chuck, has fond memories of accompanying his dad and the team on some of their away-game trips, riding and hanging out with the players. Black’s eldest daughter, Natalie, cherishes her memories of summer vacations spent with Texas Athletic Department staff and their families at Fort Clark Springs, swimming, biking, and horseback riding.

Coach Black had a few other passions besides Longhorn sports …fishing and playing golf with his friends and family. He absolutely loved fishing– he cherished the black bass fishing trips in East Texas with close friends David McWilliams, Ron Franklin and Bill Bethea or the all-night catfishing trips with his youngest son, Jason, where father and son filled big trash cans full of 3-10 pound channel cat.

Coach Black had a standing golf tee time [M/W/F 7:30AM] at Barton Creek Country Club with his motley crew of 18-hole walkers. Despite making two very lucky hole in ones, he was a terrible golfer. During most rounds, normal golfers desired the fairway, not Coach Black, he found his joy weaving in and out of trees or navigating the creek bottoms “hunting for golf balls.” At the end of each round, on the way to eat their chocolate chip cookies in the 19th hole, Black would have a scorecard in the 90s, more balls than he started with, and fresh battle scars [scraped-up arms and legs] and shoelaces filled with sticker burs.

Coach Black had two minor vices throughout his lifetime; a craving for some tobacco [pipe, chewing tobacco, then chewing double wrapped cigars] and his nightly bowl of Bluebell Homemade Vanilla ice cream.… Most nights he could be found asleep in “his chair” with a cigar in his mouth and an empty ice cream bowl in his lap.

At the center of Coach Black’s life was the cherished relationships with his wife, kids and grandkids. Each had a special place in his heart. To them, he was their role model. To him, they were his inspiration. Coach Black and his wife, Peggy, where the All-American East Texas couple. Peggy loved being “The Coach’s Wife”, as his #1 fan and supporting his passion of coaching and sharing in his love for the University of Texas. Their 64 years of marriage was a true love story, arguments were few and far between, a faithful relationship that served as an example for their children and friends. The heartbreak for Coach Black as a parent was the loss of his daughter Audrey. We rejoice for them to be reunited in heaven.

A characteristic that would be used to describe Coach Black is that he was “tough as nails” and a fighter. Nothing was more emblematic of this than his stare down with hospice. In March of 2020 [during Covid-19], Black spent three weeks at the Heart Hospital. Doctors informed the family that the kidneys have failed and they put him on hospice, Black said “I don’t want to die in the hospital, send me home.” Black returned home and immediately displayed the work ethic he often demanded of his players by working out to get his body stronger. As his heart doctor, Dr. Morris profoundly stated, “if anyone can beat hospice, it is Coach Leon Black.” 18 months later, hospice was in the penalty box.

Coach Black fought for his family, he fought for more coaching sessions with his kids and grandkids and cherished diving into more tubs of Blue Bell. During this overtime session, every day was a blessing. A special celebratory moment was seeing Coach Black celebrate his granddaughter’s commitment to play golf at the University of Virginia, where she will carry on the family tradition of D1 athletics. The icing on the cake was celebrating 12 months off of hospice over Easter Brunch at Austin Country Club.

Finally – yet from the very beginning – Black was a humble man of God. He grew up in a Southern Baptist home, and was deeply rooted in his Christian faith. Coach Black kept God heart-centered through ritual: praying prior to eating, reading daily devotionals, and serving as a deacon at Hyde Park Baptist Church for over a half-century. Those he touched remember some of the simple maxims he shared “nothing good happens after 10PM” “Never seen anything good from alcohol.”

Both salt of the earth and a bright Texas star, the legacy of Leon Black will continue to live on reflecting his devotion to his faith, family and friends during his time on earth. Welcome to Heaven Coach Black, job well done!

Coach Black is survived by his wife, Peggy Black, son Chuck Black, daughter Natalie Hetherly and husband Mike Hetherly. son Jason Black and wife Kelly Black. Grandchildren Blake and Brandon Hetherly, Gaston and Chantal Reeder, Ally and Katie Black. He is preceded in death by his parents, Peron and Lillian Black, his brother Bill Black and daughter Audrey Black Reeder.

As they say in athletics, Black left it all out on the court.

“He fought the good fight. He ran the race well. He kept the faith.” (II Timothy 4:7)

The family will have a graveside service for family and East Texas friends on October 20th at 11:00 AM at Holly Springs Cemetery in Martin’s Mill, Texas. For the Austin community, Longhorn Nation and friends of Coach Black, a Celebration of Life Service will be held Saturday, October 23, 2021 at 11:00 AM, 2313 Red River St, Austin, Texas. Immediately followed by a reception at Royal Memorial Stadium in the Hall of Fame Room. The family would like to offer our special thanks to Coach Black’s network of doctors who compassionately cared for our hero over the last few years. Special thanks to the team of doctors; Dr. Dave Morris, Dr. Kunjan Bhatt and the entire staff at the Austin Heart Hospital, and Dr. James Marroquin and Dr. Yasser Nasser; to the healthcare support from Halcyon, the tenderness and love from Flora Mari & Emeka Igboeg.