[2] Growing up in Semans, he then played junior hockey in North Dakota, then coached a team to a state championship.
[5] He worked with the legal division of Canada's Food & Drug Directorate in Toronto, and as a pharmacist in a hospital.
[5] He taught 25 years as a professor at Durham College,[6] where he helped design a paralegal program for Ontario.
During the 1978–79 OMJHL season, served briefly as interim commissioner of Ontario Major Junior Hockey League after the departure of Bill Beagan in January, until David Branch was hired in September.
Notable players drafted by Bassin during his time in Oshawa include: Dave Andreychuk, Joe Cirella, Mike Craig, Jeff Daniels, Dale DeGray, Peter Horachek, Charlie Huddy, Derek King, Steve Konroyd, Rick Lanz, John MacLean, Gord Murphy, Lee Norwood, Jim Paek, Peter Sidorkiewicz, Jarrod Skalde, Greg Stefan, and Tony Tanti.
During his tenure with the Generals, he acted as a colour commentator on CBC Sports and Global TV in the late 1980s, for World junior championship coverage.
[12] Only two years after he took over, the Greyhounds were J. Ross Robertson cup champions in the 1991–92 OHL season under coach Ted Nolan.
Marie was chosen as host of the 1993 Memorial Cup, ensuring three consecutive appearances in the national championship.
Marie include: Drew Bannister, Dan Cloutier, Aaron Gavey, Kevin Hodson, Ralph Intranuovo, Chad Penney, Chris Simon, Steve Sullivan, and Jeff Toms.
Bassin worked with general manager Maurice Filion from 1993 to 1995 to help develop the farm team, and negotiated several NHL contracts.
[20] The team nucleus that Bassin had built and sold, later won the championship in the 2016–17 OHL season, and played in the 2017 Memorial Cup.
Some notable players drafted and developed by Bassin include: Nikita Alexeev, Mike Blunden, Brad Boyes, Connor Brown, André Burakovsky, Chris Campoli, Carlo Colaiacovo, Tim Connolly, Alex DeBrincat, Luke Gazdic, Connor McDavid, Greg McKegg, Jordan Nolan, Ryan O'Reilly, Nick Palmieri, Adam Pelech, Anthony Peluso, and Dylan Strome.
[22][23] He has had hip and shoulder replacement due to osteoarthritis,[24] and has organized golf tournaments to raise funds in support of the Canadian Orthopaedic Foundation, for which he is on the board of directors.
[5] He considers his role models and mentors to be Gordon MacMurchy, Vince Lombardi, John Wooden, Pierre Pagé, and Dave King.