Norman Van Lier was born in East Liverpool, Ohio to Helen and Norm Sr., who worked in a steel mill for 31 years. He was raised, along with three brothers and a sister, in Midland, Pennsylvania. Van Lier had three other brothers who died after birth; he named one of them Elgin Baylor Van Lier I. Van Lier would look back fondly to his childhood playing tackle football with a taped coffee can for a ball due to their circumstances. He would later credit this upbringing in forming his famed work ethic later in life.