This is part of a series of mini-Redlands Connections. This is Part 3 of the series, Quick Visits. Magic Johnson and John Wooden showed up at the University of Redlands as part of a Convocation Series. This piece on Tom Flores was another one. Hall of Fame pitcher Ferguson Jenkins, former NBA player John Block, legendary high school coach Willie West showed up. There are others. Cazzie Russell, for instance, came to Redlands with an NCAA Division III basketball team from Savannah, Ga. So did John Block, another ex-NBA player who showed up at Redlands as a coach.
By the early 1980s, I was a student of NBA history. I vividly remember those rabid NBA playoffs from the late 1960s – the Lakers and Celtics, Knicks, Warriors and 76ers … all those Russell versus Chamberlain matchups … Kareem Abdul-Jabbar taking over Russell’s duels against Chamberlain.
When John Block, UC San Diego’s coach for between 1980-83, brought his Tritons’ squad to the Redlands Tournament one year, I knew about his NBA background.
It wasn’t hard to forget a former NBA player that spent a decade going up against the world’s greatest players. Milwaukee coach Larry Costello brought Block in for a season, hoping his 6-foot-9 bulk could take a little pressure off Kareem.
At Redlands, I said to Block, “Give me a status report on small-college basketball for the Tritons.”
He laughed. Block was just getting his coaching career underway at UCSD. There was, he told me, a lot to learn. “Where do I start?” he asked.
UCSD’s coach could have started chatting about his NBA days. Jerry West, Elgin Baylor and Gail Goodrich surrounded Block during his rookie season in Los Angeles.
After his USC days, he’d been an original draft choice – third round, 27th pick – of all places, Los Angeles Lakers. USC and the Lakers both played home games at the Sports Arena.
Traded to San Diego, where Hall of Famer Elvin Hayes was an NBA scoring champ, Block turned up alongside another top-level pro player. It was, of course, onto Milwaukee.
He didn’t last long with the Bucks, though he played in a memorable game against his former Lakers’ team that had a 33-game winning streak.
Inside that Currier Gymnasium, where he was sitting as San Diego’s collegiate coach, he smiled. “Twenty points that game, Milwaukee stopping their long, long winning streak.”
Sure, he said, “Kareem and Oscar had better games. I helped them, gave them a nice assistance.”
Block, who played 10 NBA seasons, wound up with one of the NBA’s all-time worst teams in Philadelphia, though he won a spot on an NBA All-Star team.
Teammates with Nate “Tiny” Archibald at Kansas City-Omaha.
A year later, he was at New Orleans, playing alongside “Pistol” Pete Maravich.
In his final season, 1976, he was with a Chicago Bulls’ squad that included Artis Gilmore.
This 6-foot-9 guy could shoot – 11.9 points a game, plus nine rebounds and four assists over those 10 pro seasons.
All of a sudden, a guy with all those credentials showed up coaching against Redlands. Those uneventful years at UCSD – 32-46 covering three seasons.
“Nothing to report, really,” said Block. “I’m just getting this team going. I’ll know in a year, or so.”
It was tough recruiting at an NCAA Division III campus, he told me.
That night, Redlands’ recruits beat his recruits inside Currier Gymnasium.
Nothing big for Block beyond those years. Coaching back east, then back to California where he spent seven seasons back in San Diego coaching Point Loma.
On that night in Redlands, he said, “I loved playing. Glendale High here in Southern California, onto USC, drafted by the Lakers, let me tell you how much I love this game … and how much I’ve still got to learn.”
Tipoff for this UCSD-Redlands game was around 10 minutes away. Said Block: “Anything else you want to ask, we’ll get together after this game.”
Questions could have gone all night.
This guy went on as teammates with Kareem and Oscar Robertson with the Bucks, Hayes and Pat Riley in San Diego, Bill Bridges and Hal Greer in Philadelphia, Nate Archibald in Kansas City, Pete Maravich and Walt Bellamy with New Orleans, let’s not forget Chicago Bull teammates Bob Love, Jerry Sloan, Nate Thurmond and Chet Walker – plus both Van Arsdale brothers, Tom and Dick.
Imagine Block’s chat in Redlands, toward me, sharing memories of each player when he wore uniforms together.
