S P O RT S
BY: JOSH HELMER
High School Superfans Supporting Tigers, Timberwolves a Way of Life
D
r. Vivla Hill’s Spanish II classroom at Norman North is adorned with autographed team pictures that honor past Timberwolves. Stephen Jones has a collection of 20 scrapbooks filled to the brim with newspaper and magazine clippings that serve as an unofficial history guide to Norman High basketball since 1986. Separated by their loyalties in the Crosstown Clash, the pair is united in their unbridled love and fandom of their two respective schools. Norman North athletic director Courtney Norton will tell you how Dr. Hill attends every single sport and has worked as a sponsor when they’ve needed a fill-in. “She’s on the sidelines in football, in basketball. No game is too close, too far away for her and her husband to attend. She is Norman North’s biggest fan by far that there ever will be,” Norton said. She earned the Norman Athletic Association’s Norman North fan of the year award in 2017. Her love of sports came from her grandfather. D.B.R. Johnson
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was the OU college of pharmacy dean from 1919-49 and his $5,000 donation was part of the funds raised to help build OU’s football stadium. As a result, 50-yard line seats to Oklahoma football games stayed within the family for years.
Then, after she began teaching at Norman North in the 2013-14 school year, Hill became a mainstay at her students’ sporting events. She’s had the Stoops brothers and Trae Young in class, and sometimes those familiar faces pop in just to say hello even after they have graduated.
“We always felt like we had just a little piece of the glory,” Hill said.
“I tell people it’s like having all these grandkids that you don’t have to buy Christmas presents for. I look at them and I think these are my kids,” Hill said.
Sports remained a part of her life. She was a cheerleader throughout junior high, her husband was in charge of track and field for the Marine Corps when they lived in Tennessee and her three kids played a mix of soccer, football and wrestling. When she lived and worked overseas teaching with the department of defense, she helped start the first all-girls soccer team at her daughter’s school on the island of Terceira. “There were a lot of girls that wanted to play, and they kind of resented being on the mixed team. So, we decided to start (a team). It was a great sense of pride for it to be the first time,” she remembered.
That’s why she makes it a point to be at as many games as she possibly can. “I feel an attachment there and I like watching them play. Whether they know you’re there or not, I think they appreciate that someone bothered to come. They need to feel there’s a support beyond mom and dad,” Hill said. “I rejoice in their efforts and achievements. Sometimes it’s victory, sometimes it’s not.” Her regular appearances at practices and games made it an easy decision for Norman North head volleyball coach
