The Sweetest Thing

“Find the sweetness in your own heart, then you may find the sweetness in every heart.”

– Rumi

My grandma had a reputation around her neighborhood. She was always chipping in with a bake sale. Always volunteering at the shelter. Always handing out cookies to kids dropping by to say hi. If she was in the kitchen, whatever she was up to probably involved sugar. In practice and in personality, her neighborhood nickname was hard-earned and well-thought. The Sweet Lady. Sweet she was. So damned sweet.

You don’t meet people like that over the course of your life, and she was and is someone I deeply aspired to. With an example like that in your life, you tend to look for others along the way who are built the same way.

And sports is one of the last places you’d ever expect to find one.

Years back, before I knew I’d be lucky enough to get to write about the Denver Nuggets all the time, I would regularly attend games from the nosebleed seats. Watching from above, I’d regularly see a woman sitting alongside the team tunnel, often holding a sign aloft exhorting the team or a player, and often handing something out to the team as they ran off the court at the end of a game.

Years later, it turns out I’m not lucky enough to know that woman.

Vicki Mann Ray is one of the biggest Nuggets fans on the face of the planet. She and her husband Russ shared a pair of season tickets abutting the player’s tunnel for years and years until Russ tragically passed a few years back. But Vicki remained undeterred, still attending every Nuggets home contest, bringing an honored guest to see the game from one of the best seats in the house. Vicki still brings signs supporting the team, always hopeful. Always uplifting.

And what she was handing out to players? That’s an even sweeter thing.

Vicki has established such a close relationship with the players passing by her game after game, season after season, decade after decade, that she has learned the candy preferences of each and every guy who plays for the team. Superstar? She knows your preferences. Benchwarmer? She still has your number when it comes to the sweets.

It seems like a small thing, doesn’t it? But to the players, it’s not. Vicki often finds out a player’s preference before the first time she meets him. The way it hits a guy the first time he’s in a brand new place, especially someone young like a rookie, is monumental. A tiny bit of home in a place that up until then felt like anything but. Vicki brought that to dozens of these guys. Hundreds, even.

The candy, the conversation, the kindness, the consistency… it means the world to the players, the team, and the franchise. Vicki has photos with nearly every guy who has worn the jersey, and not just from their days with the team. Allen Iverson was overjoyed to see Vicki on his return to celebrate the team a few years back. Marcus Camby, the same. Kenyon Martin. Carmelo Anthony. LaPhonso Ellis. So many guys. So many eras. All tied together by one sweet lady.

Which made the news this last weekend all the more disheartening that that sweet lady had a stroke on Sunday, and spent the week in the hospital. Vicki has been her usual self, fighting like crazy and making things better. Slowly but surely, Vicki has started climbing out of the hole, starting to smile, speak, and follow along. She’s been constantly reminding everyone of Nikola  Jokic’s birthday on Saturday. She’s working her way back up to her favorite phrase… “REBOUND, DAMNIT!”

There are nearly eight billion people walking around this planet, and very few of them as sweet, kind, or driven as Vicki. She’s been a gift to the Nuggets organization, and the fan base as a whole. The sugar she spreads is a little bit of candy, and miles of love. So in return, it seemed worth taking a few moments to share a little in return. If you, DNVR Nation, find yourself with an opportunity today or this weekend, take that example share a little of that sweetness to someone around you.

You are amazing, Vicki Mann Ray. There are so many of us who love you. Who are grateful for everything you’ve brought to us all over the years. So, with all the love in our hearts… Rebound, damnit. We’re excited to see you back at Ball Arena soon. We are very sweet on you.