NORMAN OLIVER: ENTREPRENEUR. PHILANTHROPIST. SERVANT LEADER.
BY ERICKA DANOIS BLOUNT
N orman Oliver, best known as Stormin’ Norman in circles in Wilmington, Delaware,
Newark’s arts high school where he got into play production and poetry. Even with these gifts he didn’t consider going to college, but knew his mother, Zanthia Hollis, didn’t have the space in her home with eight other children for him to sit around and do nothing. His family members had gone to Delaware State, his uncle Norman Hollis and his Aunt Alice Hollis, and they, along with his mother encouraged him to at least apply to the college. A recruiter named Jethro Williams helped him with the process of getting into Delaware State and when he was accepted, his brother drove him to Delaware State with two garbage bags of clothes in tow. He did so well his freshman year that he had the grades to pledge Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. His brother Robert Oliver was a Kappa and he and other Kappas took him under their wing. He endeared himself to them by writing poems for their girlfriends. “Everybody was getting girls from my poems except me,” Oliver laughs. His poetry would prove to be fruitful. He became the class president after winning a poetry
contest, which would be the spark for his work in politics and philanthropy. A large part of his inspiration for his next venture came from his mother, a parent of nine who was raising her family by herself in the South Bridge projects. “My mom had such an influence on me giving back, she raised all of us on her own and she was so giving,” said Oliver. “She didn’t have, but she would help people and those that didn’t have a home would spend the night at our home.” Oliver called his friends about doing something to get kids off the street. And soon his nickname was born. He and his friends created the Stormin’ Norman basketball league for young people that began with a little over 50 kids and $20. The league became so popular it grew to 2,000 players that would travel around the country and the budget grew to $300,000. “Hundreds of kids were enrolled in it. It was the largest basketball camp in the state,” remembered Wooley. “He organized it. It
reminded me of the Rucker in Harlem, but these were younger kids. When he first started, he couldn’t get sponsorship, so I became one of his early sponsors,” said Wooley. Another sponsor would propel the league into the stratosphere with a cold call Oliver made to him. Sports marketing executive Sonny Vaccaro, best known for signing Michael Jordan to his first sneaker deal became a sponsor from Oliver boldly reaching out to him. “He called me out of the blue,” remembered Vaccaro who is 85 years old and in 2023 had Matt Damon play him in the movie “Air,” about his life. “I got involved in everything Norman did. Our relationship just got personal. He’s as close as he can be without being blood,” said Vaccaro by phone.” Vaccaro was so impressed by Oliver that he gave him equipment and whatever he needed to help the league succeed. “All the people I have met, Norman is probably the most accidental and has stayed the longest with me,” said Vaccaro. “Norman called me and
is on any given day in his hometown in Wilmington,
Delaware, considered a cross between Forrest Gump and the most interesting man in the world. He’s revered, for his philanthropy, his basketball leagues that kept kids off the streets, and his long tenure as a politician in Wilmington, Delaware. Oliver wears many hats, some of which came to him unexpectantly. He’s a poet, a radio host for his show “Community Crossfire with Stormin’ Norman,” he’s led the Democratic party in Delaware and traveled in circles with both the powerful and the underserved. “Norman’s contributions span decades and have uplifted countless individuals,” said filmmaker, author and producer Dave Wooley. He’s respected on so many different levels from the hood to the board room and he’s able to navigate successfully in those two worlds, not too many people can do that.”
As a high school student Oliver was bussed from Wilmington to
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