Lincoln assistant wrestling coach Norman Norton died on Saturday, July 16, 2022, following injuries sustained from a motorcycle accident. He was 35.
Norton grew up in Tallahassee and helped run his family’s tree-cutting business.
He began wrestling as a junior at Lincoln and missed the state tournament by a point his senior year.
Norton enrolled in the Air Force and was stationed in Portugal and Italy for the majority of his time in service. He also coached wrestling for the base team, which ultimately lined him up for an opportunity to join Lincoln head coach Crowder when he returned to Tallahassee.
Lincoln head coach Mike Crowder not only hired Norton as an assistant coach and worked alongside him for years, but coached him while he was in high school.
Following Norton’s sudden death, the Big Bend community has expressed its condolences and the impact that Norton had on their lives.
“Today is an incredibly sad day for our Tallahassee wrestling community with the news of coach Norton passing away last night,” Florida High head coach Clay Allen tweeted from the team’s Twitter account. “His selflessness and infectiously positive attitude and the phrase “there it is” will always be what I remember about him. RIP Norm, you’ll be missed.”
“Damn this one hits us all hard, as it’s only been 3 years that we lost my brother the very same way,” Nortman’s cousin Rekeysha J. West wrote on Facebook. “Dnt know when it’ll truly hit me but lawd I’m going to miss seeing, joking, and chopping it up with my cuzin Norman Norton”
“He coaches like I used to coach when I was young,” Crowder said. “He reminds me a lot of me when I was young in just being really aggressive and in your face about everything, which was really fun to see.”
“If you’re talking about what he meant to wrestling at Lincoln, the Big Bend the Panhandle, and North Florida, he wanted to get people better no matter who they were or where they came from. He’d venture out and go to other teams club practices or a help coach a kid from another team. He had the mindset of if they get better, we get better.
“I wasn’t coached by norm. We were wrestling partners,” Chase Hanselman commented on Lincoln’s wrestling page on Facebook. “I won’t be writing a letter but I wrote a private one about how he coached me in life after his death within 24 hours. I had no idea he was involved in the church and I got to see him preach online. I lasted 30 seconds before I was sobbing. It’s amazing how big the “bigger picture” really can be. I knew no part of his church life but now I do. I will see you again brother, I can honor that promise…but it’s gonna be a while!”
Norman Norton’s funeral arrangements are yet to be announced by the family.