Pine Bluffs' Tucker Norman shined on court and in throws ring

So much so that juniors Chris Fornstrom, Alex Graves and Hunter Thompson were ribbing freshman Tucker Norman and encouraging him to go out for track in the spring.

Norman had become a standout during his six seasons playing with the Cheyenne Sting’s competitive youth soccer teams. Pine Bluffs doesn’t have a soccer program, but it does have a cooperative agreement with Cheyenne Central.

Eventually, Fornstrom proposed a wager.

“If we win, Tucker goes out for track,” he said.

Norman quickly agreed to the deal without telling his teammates he was already considering ending his soccer career because of a chronic knee injury that had required surgery less than a year earlier.

Norman played a big role in the Hornets’ 58-50 victory over Wind River that night, coming off the bench to score six points, corral eight rebounds and notch a block that resulted in a transition 3-pointer. The win gave Pine Bluffs its first boys basketball title since 1983.

Norman kept up his end of the bargain by going out for track that spring, but was limited by his balky right knee. He had a much more invasive surgery that summer.

The knee troubles were merely a hiccup in Norman’s stellar high school career.

This spring, he repeated as 2A’s discus state champion, and also placed fourth in shot put. On the basketball court, Norman earned all-state honors by averaging 15.2 points, 9.4 rebounds, 2.1 steals and 1.5 blocks per game.

His rebounds and blocks averages were third-best in 2A, while his scoring average ranked fifth.

He can now add Laramie County male Prep Athlete of the Year to his list of accolades.

The senior picked up three of 10 first-place votes from WyoSports and select Wyoming Tribune Eagle staffers to finish with 83 points. Cheyenne East senior Erik Oliver was runner-up with 77 points.

Choice to make

Soccer was Norman’s favorite sport growing up, but the pain he felt in his right knee made it difficult to stay on the pitch.

At first, Norman chalked the discomfort he felt up to growing pains. They had hit him hard in the past, causing his knees, heels and back to ache. When the pain lingered, Norman knew something was wrong.

The vastus medialis oblique muscle in his right quadricep wasn’t developed as well as it needed to be, and his kneecap would frequently dislocate. Norman’s first knee surgery was to tighten a ligament to help keep his kneecap in place.

He was discouraged from playing sports. Norman’s parents encouraged him to pick just one.

Laramie County Community College men’s soccer coach Vince Gibson coached Norman’s Sting teams, and has little doubt Norman could have been a standout midfielder at the high school level.

“He was a stellar player for us,” Gibson said. “He learned fast, was very speedy, very athletic and very good technically for that age.

“(Norman was) the kind of guy I would like to have on my team right now.”

Norman had to have microfracture surgery after his freshman year. He spent six weeks on crutches.

“My bench (press) max went up about 40 pounds that summer,” Norman joked.

He dealt with occasional swelling and discomfort after the second surgery, but nothing that sidelined him.

Gibson has followed Norman’s prep career, and was happy for his success.

“He had a choice to make because of his knee, and he made a good one,” Gibson said. “He flourished in basketball and track.”

Setting the tone

Norman attributes much of his success to the time he spent in Pine Bluffs’ weight room.

At 6-foot-4, he was among the taller players in Class 2A, but Norman knows merely being tall wasn’t a guarantee of success.

“If I would have just been tall and not been explosive, I wouldn’t have been that effective,” he said. “I was able to stand out because I was explosive, agile and jumped high. Getting in the weight room developed me as an overall athlete.”

Kyle Jeffres – who was a senior at Pine Bluffs High when Norman was a freshman – deserves a lot of credit for inspiring Norman in the weight room.

“He would call kids out if they weren’t working hard enough in our weights class,” Norman said. “I never wanted to be called out by him, so I worked as hard as I could. (Jeffres) was always instilling the mentality that hard work pays off.”

Norman assumed a similar role during his senior year, Hornets basketball coach Tyler Kimzey said.

“He was always a guy who was happy to lead by example,” Kimzey said. “He started vocalizing things more. He took some of the younger guys under his wing and pushed them along and showed them how to do things.”

Norman’s extra efforts weren’t limited to the weight room, Pine Bluffs throws coach Dale Gilbert said. Norman didn’t throw discus until he entered high school, and he was determined to make up for lost time.

“There are a lot of kids with potential, but there aren’t a lot of kids who take a disc home during the summer and throw it and really work on the things they need to do to get better,” Gilbert said. “When kids see someone working that hard, they tend to work harder, too.

“Once he got discus figured out, he helped a lot of other kids. It was kind of like having another coach out there.”

Not just a jock

Norman’s leadership extended beyond the gym and throwing ring.

He organized theme nights for the students who attended Lady Hornets volleyball matches. Norman was active in FBLA, 4-H and as student body president. He was valedictorian of his class.

“It doesn’t matter what you’re doing, if you ask Tucker to help you out, he will, and he will do a great job at it,” Gilbert said. “Academically, he has got to be in the top 5 of kids I’ve had in 27 years. He is super smart and super athletic. I have a real soft spot for him because I have seen him grow, develop and push himself.”

Norman will attend the University of Wyoming this fall with the goal of becoming a doctor or biomedical engineer.

Season to remember

Even though Norman’s knee trouble largely went away, he wasn’t injury-free during his prep career. He missed five basketball games after suffering a stress fracture in his right foot.

Norman had to play catch-up over the final weeks of the season, but averaged 17.7 points and 9.3 rebounds at the 2A state tournament. He scored 27 points and grabbed 12 rebounds – both game highs – during the Hornets’ 69-67 double-overtime loss to Wyoming Indian.

Losing in the state championship game hurt Norman, but the pain isn’t the same as his sophomore season, when the Hornets had a 50-game winning streak snapped in the state semifinals. They ended the season with back-to-back losses and a fourth-place finish at the state tourney.

Pine Bluffs claimed another basketball title Norman’s junior season. It led Wyoming Indian by as many as 11 points during the second half before succumbing in double overtime this winter.

“Wyoming Indian could just finish down the stretch, especially from the free-throw line,” Norman said. “I was at the free-throw line enough times late in that game. I had chances to put us ahead or keep us ahead. We just didn’t clutch up.

“We let it slip out of our hands. We didn’t realize it was slipping out of our hands until the final buzzer.”

Norman tries to keep the loss in perspective. He knows he’ll have had a great life if that’s the worst thing that happens to him.

“This season was still a great season, even though it didn’t end the way we wanted,” he said. “I was thankful to be playing with these guys, and the state championship was one of my favorite games.

“We played as a team, we played fast, and the crowd was really getting into it. I don’t remember playing in front of a crowd that loud my entire career. You could hardly hear the guy standing right next to you.”

Sweet repeat

Norman also battled an injury during the track season.

He pulled a muscle in the left side of his back trying to qualify for the Hornets’ 4x100-meter relay team. At first, Norman thought he merely had something out of place and made a couple visits to the chiropractor before trying dry needling. The latter treatment provided a few days of relief before the pain returned. Norman spent a couple weeks on the shelf, stretching and taking ice baths.

Gilbert could tell Norman wasn’t 100% healthy when he returned to practice.

“He would tell me he was OK, but I could see on his face that he wasn’t,” the throws coach said. “He never made a peep. He would just tell me it was sore. I’m sure it was more than just sore.

“Things came pretty easily for him his junior year, but he really had to fight through it his senior year.”

In addition to winning the 2A state title as a junior, Norman won the Wyoming Track Classic and placed seventh at the invitation-only Great Southwest Classic in New Mexico.

The back injury Norman battled made his championship-winning toss of 152 feet, 1 inch even more satisfying.

“When the back injury hit, I thought I wasn’t going to be able to repeat,” Norman said. “I thought my season was over.

“I had faith things would work out, and they did.”