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.
Early life 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.Ben Joravsky. "Back in the Game". Chicago Reader. July 21, 1994. Retrieved on March 4, 2009
High school career 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.
College career 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).
Van Lier graduated in 1969 with a double major in history and special education.
Professional career Cincinnati Royals (1969–1971) Van Lier was selected by the Chicago Bulls in the third round of the 1969 NBA draft, 34th overall. Before the season started, on October 12, 1969 he was traded to the Cincinnati Royals for Walt Wesley in a three-team trade that also involved the Atlanta Hawks."Bulls Deal Newmark, Get Royals' Wesley," Chicago Tribune, Monday 13 October 1969. Retrieved 24 June 2026. Van Lier had also been selected by the New York Nets in the 1969 American Basketball Association draft. Van Lier chose the NBA.
Van Lier started as a rookie (1969–70) with the Royals under head coach Bob Cousy, who had been a Hall of Fame guard and six-time NBA champion with the Boston Celtics. Van Lier played in the Royals' backcourt alongside future Hall of Fame guard Oscar Robertson. He averaged 35.7 minutes, 9.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 6.2 assists per game. Cousy believed that the only better rookie in the NBA that season was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then known as Lew Alcindor). Cousy said that it was rare for a rookie to start, and that Van Lier had been a major contributor to the Royals that season, also observing: "'Norm doesn't possess that much physical ability or size but he more than offsets this with a constant determination, aggressive play and a dedicated approach to the game'".
The following season (1970–71), Van Lier played in all 82 games, now in the backcourt with future Hall of Fame guard Nate Archibald. He was among the top NBA players in both offense and defense that season. Van Lier averaged a team leading 40.5 minutes per game and 10.1 assists per game. He led the NBA in total assists (832) and assists per game, and was the only player to average 10 assists per game in the NBA that season. Van Lier also averaged 16 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. He was named at guard to the NBA's second team All-Defensive Team, as was his future Chicago Bulls' teammate, guard Jerry Sloan.
On January 5, 1971, Van Lier became the first player in NBA history to have a scoreless double-double, with zero points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds in a victory against the Los Angeles Lakers. A scoreless double-double did not happen for another 50 years, when on December 26, 2021, rookie Josh Giddey of the Oklahoma City Thunder compiled 10 assists and 10 rebounds in the Thunder's 117–112 win over the New Orleans Pelicans.
Van Lier flourished under Cousy's tutelage at Cincinnati (and even dated Cousy's daughter for over a year). As a coach, Cousy focused on the team playing as a unit, instead of as individuals, which fit Van Lier's own style of play. Cousy called Van Lier a "'coach’s dream'", who greatly motivated all of his teammates by example through an all-out playing style. Van Lier's playing style in the NBA was characterized not by scoring, but by "penetrating and passing off, playing defense, and moving the ball and the team".
Van Lier was renowned for his physical and relentless defense, his fearlessness, and his hard-nosed play with the Royals. During a preseason game between the Royals and Chicago Bulls, Van Lier got in a brawl with his future teammate and later close friend Jerry Sloan (who had a similar approach to playing hard and aggressively). Their fight started during the game; and then continued after the game. Van Lier later said he had always admired Sloan because of their similar style of play; but moreover, when he rejoined the Bulls in 1971, "'Jerry made me part of what was happening right away. He was a real human being. It was strange. He was a white person, but he was for everybody'".