High School Superfans

Dr. Vivla Hill with Zac Ivy

Supporting Tigers, Timberwolves a Way of Life

By: Josh Helmer

Dr. 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 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.

“We always felt like we had just a little piece of the glory,” 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.

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.

“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.

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 Stephanie Kane to suggest she just join the team.

“She really loves being a part of volleyball at Norman North. We love having her,” Kane said. “She tries to make all the away games. We love the energy that she brings. I think the main thing that the girls love the most is the support. Knowing that there’s a staff member that cares a lot about them.”

Norman North girl’s head basketball coach, Rory Hamilton, also invited Hill to sit on his team’s bench at the state tournament last season.

“She’s really invested in our student athletes, she’s really invested in our school,” Hamilton said. “It gives us added motivation to want to perform at a high level for her. She’s our number one fan. Her enthusiasm is infectious.

“It makes you want to do better as a coach and it makes our girls want to do better. She lives and breathes Norman North, which is awesome.”

The bench invitations nearly brought Hill to tears.

“I don’t have any standing to sit on the bench to feel like you’re a part of it and that you’re appreciated, that matters to me,” Hill shared. “It’s hard to put words into it.”

Dr. Vivla Hill with the Norman North Volleyball team.

Norman High Superfan Stephen Jones

At Norman High, Jones’ presence has been woven into the fabric of the Tigers over the past 35 years. He graduated from NHS in 1988 and worked as a team manager under then-head boys basketball coach Tony Robinson.

Though an obstacle, cerebral palsy has never kept Jones out of the gymnasium. For years, he and his mom would go to games together, but with one condition.

“I don’t text. I sit there and watch every second, because my mom told me years ago, ‘If I’m going to bring you to these games, you’re either going to watch the game or we’re going home.’ So, that’s what I do,” Jones said.

His mom passed away several years ago and he wondered if he would be able to continue attending Norman High basketball games. That’s when he met Fred Staker at an OU women’s basketball game. Staker offered to transport Jones to and from games whenever possible.

“He just reached out and handed me this piece of paper that had his cell phone number on it. He said, ‘any time you need a ride to Norman High or the OU women, if I can do it for you, I will.’ That’s the only reason I still get to go to the high school games and to the OU women games,” Jones said. “It’s a blessing, because I truly would not be going to the basketball games anymore. One day Mr. Staker might not be able to bring me to the high school anymore, so I enjoy every moment that I’m there.”

Norman head girls basketball coach Michael Neal said he turned to Jones’ in order to fill out the missing record books in the Tigers’ basketball offices.

“If there were such a thing as a superfan in regard to Norman High, he’s the ultimate historian when it comes to basketball, on both sides, boys and girls,” Neal said. “He does everything in his power to try to attend every game. I’ve had the privilege of meeting him and getting to know him. He has it all. He and his mom used to go to every game. If you want to know something about Norman basketball, he’s the person to go to, because if he doesn’t have it in his head, he definitely has it at his house with his memorabilia and everything he’s collected over the past few decades.”

There’s a sign on the wall and a reserved seat that signifies Jones’ spot at every Norman home game. Midway through last season, one of the seniors on coach Neal’s team had a message for Jones. They were planning on winning the Gold Ball for him as a thanks for his and his mom’s support.

“I said, ‘You need to win the Gold Ball because you want to win it. Win it for your coaches and win it for Norman High. Don’t win it for me. I will share it with you.’ They said, ‘We listened to you, but we’re going to win the Gold Ball for you.’ And that was it,” Jones said.

Sure enough, later that year Jones boarded an NHS spirit bus and watched in person as the Tigers claimed their first girls basketball title since 2005, topping Norman North in the championship game 44-31.

Afterward, Coach Neal and the players gave Jones a state championship medal to add to his collection.

“I keep coming back because of two reasons. I come back for the players, because they’re important to me. I really do mean that. I also come back to the Norman High gym because that’s my home,” Jones said. “That’s how it is and that’s how it will always be until I take my last breath. We’re not friends. We’re family when we walk in that gym.” -BSM