KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The exchange was transformational for Rolando Blackman.
Not only for him to become one of the greatest basketball players in Kansas State history, but to go on and become an NBA All-Star whose number is retired by the Dallas Mavericks.
The setting was Ahearn Fieldhouse, but no fans were making noise that reverberated off the limestone walls. Rather, one lone basketball stopped bouncing as coach Jack Hartman interrupted practice to provide a stern directive.
“Jack was rough, tough, gruffy and not a person that was any morning sunshine,’’ Blackman recalled.
With that, Blackman related the most memorable, most influential and most combative moment in his four seasons playing at K-State, while being inducted Friday into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame.