‘I’ve Never Sat’: Meet the Denver Nuggets Superfan Who Sneaks Candy to NBA Stars

Yellow borders the top and bottom of her white poster. In navy blue, she’s stenciled “NUGGETS” in all caps, “WE BELIEVE” underneath in black, and “IN YOU” on the third line. The sign bounces up and down in GIF form, high above her hair. She’s grinning wide, bobbing her head in rhythm. 

Vicki Ray surely has faith in her Denver Nuggets. She hasn’t missed a home game in 29 years, spending roughly 50 nights per season in the first row at Pepsi Center. Players past and present know her simply as “The Candy Lady,” always gifting bags of treats during their jog back to the halftime locker room. Carmelo Anthony and JR Smith loved Twizzlers as much as Gary Harris prefers Sour Patch Kids today. 

Ray is unaware of when and who cut the footage of her celebrating inside the stadium, but that GIF always seems to pop up on her Twitter feed. There it was again on Aug. 6. 

“And I’m like, wait,” Ray told Bleacher Report. “That says Phoenix Suns.” 

If Denver had defeated Portland that evening, it would have helped Phoenix’s quest to sneak into the Western Conference playoffs, way back before the Nuggets became the darlings of this NBA postseason. 

Denver knocked off the Jazz and Clippers in historic fashion, becoming the only team in NBA history to come back from consecutive 3-1 deficits. And while they trail the Lakers 2-0, the Nuggets were an Anthony Davis buzzer-beater away from a 1-1 series tie in the Western Conference Finals. 

Denver’s magical run has provided their superfan, Ray, a much-needed reprieve as the coronavirus pandemic continues to disrupt daily life. For months, she stayed home as the car dealership she works for shuttled vehicles to her prospective customers’ homes and finished all paperwork over email. Her daughter is at risk because of longstanding issues with asthma. Denver’s joyous postseason has helped the Rays breathe a bit easier. “It helps,” Ray said. “But it’s not like being there.”

Ray does not have cable, so she strapped on her navy Torrey Craig jersey and watched both of Denver’s stunning Game 7 victories dancing in a friend’s living room. She misses her home away from home dearly: Section 130, Row 1, Seats 5 and 6, although she swears she has no idea how comfortable the chairs are. “I’ve never sat,” Ray smiled. 

Ray originally hails from Virginia. Her husband Russell’s IT work shipped the couple to Colorado 30-some years ago, but Ray faced bouts of debilitating homesickness. More than a thousand miles separated her from the children and grandchildren she called every day, back when long-distance calls carried even higher chargers. “Our telephone bill was like $700 a month,” Ray laughed. Desperate for a solution in 1992, Russell pitched his wife on attending a Nuggets contest. “I don’t want to go to no damn basketball game,” Ray said.  

But she ultimately relented. Ray cherished young center Dikembe Mutombo’s energy and enthusiasm and the team’s overall joy. “I couldn’t even talk after the first game I screamed so loud,” Ray said.

After Denver stunned top-seeded Seattle in 1994, becoming the first No. 8 seed in NBA history to advance to the second round of the playoffs, the Rays made their season-long commitment. They bought seats adjacent to the Nuggets’ locker room entrance. That way, Ray could easily hug and high-five the players as they walked off and on the court. She morphed into Denver’s unofficial team mom. “They’re like my family,” Ray said. Russell began wearing a custom jersey with “Vicki’s Husband” printed on the back. “She has a huge history,” says former Nuggets general manager Arturas Karnisovas.

By the 2002-03 season, Mutombo had long since departed, but the Nuggets acquired a new charismatic center in Marcus Camby. Only the UMass product couldn’t dress for Denver until January following October hip surgery. Ray wanted to specially welcome his Nuggets debut. She read that Camby, upon waking from his operation, first asked where Denver’s record stood—and then told a nurse he was craving a Nestle Crunch bar. So for his opening game against Cleveland, as Camby opened his arms to hug Ray en route to the floor, she also handed him a sandwich baggie full of chocolate. Other Nuggets players began asking for bags of candy too. To close the decade, Carmelo Anthony and JR Smith loved Twizzlers. 

Each night, Ray was there, standing at Seat 6 in Section 130’s first row. “I can’t imagine how much money she spent on candy,” says former Nuggets assistant coach Micah Nori. It’s both the last seat in the row, giving unbridled access to the tunnel, and also the first seat behind the hockey boards needed at Avalanche games, so Ray conveniently began placing her candy bags atop the divider. 

Longtime Nuggets swingman Wilson Chandler received peanut butter cups—a mixture of miniturare, individually wrapped treats in addition to two-packs of Reese’s. “She’s just a great person,” said Chandler, now a Brooklyn Nets forward. “She’s one of the biggest fans in the NBA. She’s there every day, every game, bringing candy.” When Gary Harris arrived in 2014, Ray first gifted him a bag of sour gummies. The swingman confirmed he liked the sharp candies, specifically blue raspberry-flavored Sour Patch Kids. But as a rookie, Harris often forgot to stop by Ray on his jog back from his pregame shootaround. Ray made sure to flag him down at halftime. “The candy lady!” Harris would shout. “She’s just unique, man,” he said. “She’s part of the Nuggets. She’s gotta make sure we get our candy.” 

Journeyman forward Torrey Craig spent four years bouncing around teams in Australia and New Zealand before joining the Nuggets in 2017. As he’s carved a lasting role in Mike Malone’s rotation, Ray’s consistent presence helped make Denver feel like an actual home.“Ever since I got here she’s shown so much support,” Craig said. Ray quickly learned to prepare him bags of gummy bears. “I don’t know how she do it,” Craig said. “Every game, bringing the candy, same place every time. I just think it’s pretty amazing.” 

Ray’s support has never wavered, even after Russell died from a stroke in July 2016. He was 62. Longtime former Nuggets media relations director Tim Gelt, the team mascot Rocky, Greg Hutton from the sales office and several fans attended the funeral. Ray received flowers from the Nuggets basketball operations staff. Several former players and team dancers reached out to offer condolences over Facebook. Malone and several players left her personal messages when the Nuggets screened a video tribute for Russell at a game soon after his death. 

In the years since, her daughter has most often filled Seat 5 while Ray hovers above Seat 6, clapping and hollering for her Nuggets as loud as ever, up until the NBA shutdown in March. She spends hours crafting foam board signs, displaying every player’s name with different-colored markers, tape and ribbons. She clips them into three metal rings so she can flip throughout her stack of creations whenever an individual walks off the floor from his pregame warm-up.  

She’s had that “Nuggets We Believe In You” sign featured in the viral GIF for over 15 years. “The last one broke,” Ray said. She has close to 1,000 old posters stuffed inside a giant closet in her unfinished basement. When she creates each sign, claiming “We Love” and then the player’s name, Ray leaves a space to later inscribe the word “Still,” for when that player inevitably returns as a visiting opponent. Whether you’ve starred for the Nuggets like Carmelo Anthony or were a rotational reserve like current Denver assistant coach Ryan Bowen, Ray always pays homage to her former guys. “There’s superfan Vicki, ‘We Still Love You, Ryan Bowen,’” he chuckled. “Former players really appreciate it.” 

Ray even makes a few signs for a handful of referees. Tony Brothers has always been kind to her and also hails from her native Virginia. The official gets his own custom-made poster. He felt close enough with Ray to write her a thoughtful note when Russell died.

These playoffs, Ray has remained connected to the team through her famous signs. Before each game, she messages Bowen and fellow Nuggets assistant coach John Beckett the GIF of her celebrating. For the Western Conference Finals, she brings her poster and watches from a local bar. 

Though LeBron James is blocking the path, the Nuggets stand just eight wins away from the trophy Russell and Vicki Ray always imagined they would win. “He would have loved that,” Ray says.