
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, August 20, 1993                   TAG: 9308200076
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By ANDREA KUHN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FERRUM                                LENGTH: Medium

COACH LEAVES HIS MARK ON PANTHERS, COMMUNITY

Some members of the Ferrum College football team guessed that coach Hank Norton might be retiring soon. They just had a feeling . . . in their knees, in their arms, in their backs.

"We figured he was leaving because we've worked a lot harder this year," said guard Ray Brown, a senior for the Panthers. "It's like he wants to go out winning it all."

Norton informed his team Wednesday night that he would retire after this season, his 34th as head coach at the Franklin County school.

"There was complete silence," said Norton, 65, who has compiled a record of 239-73-11 at Ferrum with only three losing seasons.

"I was shocked," said James Williams, a senior wide receiver. "But the tradition will still be here when he leaves. And the seniors will pass it on to the younger guys."

Senior fullback Levi Frye said the team wanted to send Norton out with a bang.

"There's pressure on us because it's our last year," he said. "We don't want to disappoint him."

Norton has been coaching for 40 years and since taking over at Ferrum in 1960, he has become a stalwart of the college and community.

"He means an awful lot to the people who know him," said Laymon Sigmon, owner of Sigmon's barber shop. "Everyone respects him very highly. He's been a good coach and friend. There will be an empty space without him."

Sigmon has been cutting Norton's hair - which now amounts to shaving his neck and sideburns - for 28 years. Asked if he had hair when he started coaching, Norton said, "Yes, it was parted. Then it was unparted. Then, it departed."

Sigmon recalled how Norton, who jokes that "anyone who can mow a lawn can cut my hair," sometimes sends players to his shop with instructions to ask for the "Norton Special."

"They don't really know what it is," he said. "But I tell them they probably don't want it."

Bob Burnett, a lifelong Ferrum resident, described Norton as an institution in the town.

"He's been out there a long, long time," said Burnett, 62. "He's just a plain old country-type man, not snobbish. He'll take the time to talk to you. I've never heard anybody say anything bad about him."

"He is irreplaceable," said Mary France, the Ferrum athletic department's secretary. "He cares for everybody - every student, every person. . . . Everyone stands a little bit taller just being associated with him.

"We owe a lot to him. He's the backbone of this program here. There's not any way anyone can replace him."

Dave Davis, Norton's associate head coach, called speculation that he would succeed Norton "totally premature."

"The main concern is this season, that our program is successful," said Davis, who is starting his 10th season on Norton's staff. "The players are saddened, certainly. But we want this year to be the best - for Hank."

by CNB