Pettis Norman

Norman was born in Lincolnton, Georgia on January 4, 1939[1] to Fessor and Elease "Eloise" Norman (née Booker) as the youngest of ten children.[2] He attended West Charlotte High School in Charlotte, North Carolina where he made the team in his junior season and became a starter in his final year. He enlisted in the Air Force but was granted a release before attending boot camp due to a football scholarship offer from Johnson C. Smith University by then coach Eddie McGirt, without ever having seen him play[3]

He was named the starter and team MVP at split end as a freshman.[4] He was a two-way player and became a two-time All-CIAA selection. As a senior he had a game with 5 receptions for 133 yards, 2 touchdowns and was credited with 14 tackles.

He also lettered in track and field, once posting a 9.7 seconds 100-yard dash. The university's annual Pettis Norman Male and Female Athlete of the Year Award is given to the school's most outstanding student-athletes.[5][6]

In 1977, he was inducted into the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association Hall of Fame.

Norman enlisted in the Texas Army National Guard in 1962 and served until 1968 while playing for the Dallas Cowboys. He married his junior high sweetheart, Margaret Ann Clinkscales, on December 22, 1962 and had three daughters before becoming widowed in 1991. The Reverend Jesse Jackson eulogized Norman's late wife. In 1995, Norman married Ivette Hightower, daughter of the late Master Chief Harry Hightower for whom Hightower Hall at Naval Station Norfolk was named.[12] The Reverend Jesse Jackson officiated the wedding.[13]

Norman was active in changing the segregationist climate within the Cowboys and later the City of Dallas, helping to organize marches during the Civil Rights Movement, influencing the changing of the team's roommate assignments and breaking social barriers.[14] He and several Dallas Cowboy teammates marched for civil rights with the Jesuits in 1965 in downtown Dallas.[15][16] Norman protested again in 1971 when councilmember George Allen was passed over as Mayor Pro Tem of Dallas despite reassurances to the contrary.[17]

After his retirement from the NFL, Norman became a successful businessman in different ventures (fast food franchises, real state, transportation, convenience stores, etc.).[18] In 1975, Norman was a television announcer and color commentator for the World Football League, formed in 1973 by attorney and businessman Gary Davidson. Norman appeared on WRET TV 36 (Charlotte, NC), WGHP TV 8 (High Point, NC), and WCTG TV 17 (Atlanta, GA) with John Sterling (sportscaster).[19] He founded the Dallas Together Forum in the 1990s, an initiative that worked with Dallas CEOs to improve minority hiring and award contracts to women-owned and minority-owned businesses.[20][21]

Norman sued the Dallas Cowboys and San Diego Chargers, claiming medical negligence in the handling of his injured knee.[22][23]

On December 2, 2014, the Dallas Police Department reported that Sharneen Norman, who also went by "Shawn," died from a gunshot wound. She was the eldest of Norman's three daughters.[24]

Norman was featured in two Professional football (gridiron) documentaries directed and produced by independent filmmaker Michael Meredith, son of the late Don Meredith. The first was a one-hour episode titled "The Ice Bowl" for the NFL Films series "The Timeline".[25] The second was "First Cowboys"[26][27] with Roger Staubach, Walt Garrison, Mel Renfro, Gary Cartwright, Rayfield Wright, and Ralph Neely. Willie Nelson and Alicia Landry, wife of the late Coach Tom Landry, also made appearances.[28][29]