Norman Allen Van Lier III (April 1, 1947 – February 26, 2009) was an American professional basketball player and television broadcaster who spent the majority of his career in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the Chicago Bulls. He was an NBA All-Star three times, a one-time second-team All-NBA selection, a first-team NBA All-Defensive Team selection three times, and a second-team NBA All-Defensive Team selection five times. Playing with the Cincinnati Royals in his second NBA season, Van Lier led the NBA in assists (10.1 per game). He was widely praised for his all-around play on offense and defense, for his effort in playing persistently hard in games, and for raising his level of play in important games. He is one of two players in NBA history with a double-double in a game, without scoring any points in that game. He was closely associated with his Bulls' backcourt teammate Jerry Sloan, who were together considered among the greatest defensive guard duos in NBA history. An extremely popular player in Chicago, he later covered the Bulls as a sports broadcaster and commentator, with similar popularity among Chicago fans.
He attended Saint Francis University in Loretto, Pennsylvania, where he averaged a double-double over his three-year varsity career in scoring and rebounding. He averaged over 10 rebounds per game even though he was only a 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) guard. The Associated Press twice named Van Lier to its first-team Pennsylvania All-State college teams, and once to its second team. As a senior in high school, he helped lead the 1965 Midland High School Leopards to a perfect 28–0 record and a Pennsylvania state championship.
Van Lier was born on April 1, 1947, in East Liverpool, Ohio to Helen and Norm Sr. Norm Sr. was the son of a Baptist preacher, and worked in a steel mill for decades (reported as 31 or 40 years). Van Lier was raised, along with three brothers and a sister, in Midland, Pennsylvania. Van Lier had six brothers in all, three of whom died after birth including a son Norm Sr. named Elgin Baylor Van Lier I. Van Lier would look back fondly to his childhood playing tackle football with a taped coffee can for a ball due to their circumstances. He would later credit this upbringing in forming his famed work ethic later in life.
Van Lier was a member of the 1965 Midland High School Leopards, considered by many to be one of the greatest high school basketball teams in Pennsylvania history, and of all time. Van Lier played guard, and was the quarterback of the basketball team. Van Lier was known as the "Golden Spoon" because of his playmaking ability.
Midland finished the 1964–65 season with a perfect 28–0 record. Midland head coach Hank Kuzma said that Van Lier's ballhandling skills were such that "'Nobody could press us; that’s one reason we were so good'". Midland easily won the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League (WPIAL) title. The Leopards went on to win the statewide Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) Class A championship game, 90–61, the most points ever scored in the 45-year history of that game at that time. Midland's average margin of victory that season was 31.3 points per game.
The Associated Press named Van Lier a member of its Pennsylvania high school All-State second team in 1965. Van Lier was also named the most valuable player in a late March 1965 all-star tournament between a team of Pennsylvania high school all-stars against a team of national high school all-stars. It is also reported that teammate Simmie Hill was the Pennsylvania most valuable player in that game.
Van Lier's Midland teams only lost two regular season games in three years. One of Van Lier's teammates was future NBA and ABA player Simmie Hill, who would later be drafted by the Chicago Bulls in the second round, with Van Lier taken in the third round of the same draft by the Bulls. During weekends, Van Lier would hitchhike to the playgrounds in Harlem, once even playing with future NBA Hall of Famer Billy Cunningham. Coach Kuzma said of Van Lier, "'He was a fierce competitor in practice and in games'". Hill, who was considered a top basketball star in high school, said he would only have been an average player without Van Lier's being his teammate.
Van Lier was also a co-captain of his football team, where he played both as a standout quarterback, and at safety. He was recruited to play for several colleges (such as Nebraska, USC and Alabama), but none would have allowed him to play his desired position of quarterback, discouraging him from pursuing football. It is also reported that he did not choose football because his mother discouraged him from playing football. Van Lier stated that when an Alabama assistant coach came to visit him at his high school, the coach said "'I heard you are quite a quarterback. ... Boy if I had known you was colored I would never had come'".
He also played high school baseball, and had been on his high school and county all-star teams. Van Lier had received offers to play professional baseball as well, and turned down a $25,000 offer from the St. Louis Cardinals because his mother did not want him to play in the segregated south.
Van Lier's modest 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) stature and his emphasis on defense kept him under the radar of stardom, and he was not recruited by major basketball powers. Van Lier was recruited to attend Saint Francis University in Loretto, Pennsylvania by Saint Francis assistant basketball coach John Clark, who at one time had also played under coach Hank Kuzma; and Van Lier chose to attend Saint Francis. He had also been heavily recruited by the University of Cincinnati's head basketball coach Tay Baker.
Van Lier played on Saint Francis's varsity basketball team from 1966 to 1969, as a 6 ft 1 in guard. During his Saint Francis career, Van Lier became known as skilled in all aspects of basketball. The Saint Francis University Athletics Hall of Fame says of Van Lier, "His greatest asset . . . was his ability to excel at all aspects of the game. . . . 'Stormin' Norman coupled his scoring, rebounding and passing skills with a defensive tenacity and a knack for making the big play under pressure". He also was known as a fierce competitor and excellent ball handler. Van Lier retained all of these qualities as a professional player. After Van Lier's death, NBA Commissioner David Stern described him as a “'complete player, a wonderful passer, [and] a tenacious rebounder...."
Clark became Saint Francis's head coach in Van Lier's sophomore season (1966–67). Van Lier averaged 16.7 points and 10.4 rebounds per game that season. Only center Larry Lewis averaged more rebounds than Van Lier on that team. The Associated Press named Van Lier to its Pennsylvania All-State college first-team as a sophomore; the only sophomore named to the first-team.
As a junior (1967–68), Van Lier averaged a team-leading 18.8 points per game, and was again the team's second leading rebounder (10.9 rebounds per game), behind only Lewis. While participating in the Quaker City Classic tournament in Philadelphia in late December 1967, Van Lier set a tournament record with 12 assists in a game (while scoring 17 points). Van Lier set a then Saint Francis school record for assists in the 1967–68 season. In 1968, he was the only Pennsylvania college player to repeat as an Associated Press first-team All-State selection for Pennsylvania.
As a senior (1968–69), Van Lier averaged a team-leading 21.0 points per game; while again being second to Lewis in rebounding, with a 9.4 per game average. The Associated Press selected him to the All-Pennsylvania college second team that season.
Over his three years at Saint Francis, Van Lier was a standout defensive guard who also scored 1,410 points during his collegiate career. He averaged a double-double, 18.8 points per game and 10.3 rebounds per game. During those three seasons, Saint Francis had win–loss records of 20–6, 19–6, and 16–8 (after having losing records in the three seasons prior to Van Lier's joining the team).