LITTLETON, Colo. — Good moms love unconditionally. Vicki Ray loves all her kids equally -- her Denver Nuggets kids, that is.
"They make me feel like family -- they call me mom sometimes," said Ray, who has been supporting the team for almost 32 years.
Ray earned her title by sending holiday cards to players, coaches and referees. And for 20 years, she also brought some of the players their favorite candy bars.
Carmelo (Anthony) and J.R. Smith liked, 'Twizzlers,'" Ray said, knowing exactly what her players liked. "Birdman didn't like candy -- he liked to get a hug."
Her Nuggets super-fandom almost did not happen. When she and her husband, Russ, moved from Virginia to Denver decades ago, she was bored. She said she was running up a phone bill with calls home, when one day Russ came home and said they were going to go to a Nuggets game.
"I said I don’t wanna go to no damn basketball game," Ray said.
She went, and years later she fills her home with Nuggets autographs, photographs and anything that has the name of her favorite team on it. One wall is full of players' shoes. She's got more than 70 pair.
"I enjoy being around them," Ray said. "That's my life. Work and Nuggets."
She has missed only a few games over her 32 years of watching the team play. Once was when her mother died. She was not able to attend during COVID. And she also missed five games a few years ago when she had a stroke. The players and Nuggets staff sent her well wishes and some posters with their signatures.
She said she also gets Christmas cards from players like Chauncey Billups and his family. It makes her feel loved.
"They show the same love as my family does," Ray said. "It spreads out over the coaches, the players and the people who work there."
Ray looks forward to a Nuggets championship. She knows she will need a box of Kleenex if they win.
"I know I will cry," Ray said, tearfully. "Because it’s important to them, so it’s important to me."
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