| Title: | Student-Athlete: Golf |
| Year: | 1977 |
Mike Norris excelled in golf at a young age with his first major victory as a 13 year old winning the Paul Bunyan Junior Golf Tournament at the Lucerne Golf Club in 1971. Norris’ high school experience was equally as impressive as he excelled in golf at the local, regional and state level all four years of high school. He was ranked the number one golfer while on the Brewer High School Golf Team and he was a crucial member of the Brewer Golf Team that won four consecutive Penobscot Valley Conference Championships from 1973 to 1977. Norris lettered all four years and was also a member of the B-Club. As a golfer, he was an All-State School Boy Medalist (having the lowest score) in 1976-77. No one else in the Brewer High School Golf Program has ever achieved this honor.
Additionally, Norris was a solid member of the basketball team. He played on the Freshman Team and on the Junior Varsity Team his sophomore year. During his junior and senior years, Norris had important roles both years as a scorer and a rebounder. He played power forward on the Varsity Teams that had very impressive records: 12-6 in 1975-76 and 13-5 in 1976-77. Norris contributed significantly to the team which went to the Eastern Maine Basketball Tournament Semi-finals both years at the Bangor Auditorium.
Outstanding achievements in the Brewer High School Golf Program, states his father John Norris, who was also Mike’s high school golf coach, “were due to his work ethic and dedication to the fundamentals of golf and the opportunity to be able to play in a golf program that was available at the high school level.” As a result of his outstanding golfing accomplishments, he received a four-year scholarship in golf from Husson College. Norris was a member of the Husson Golf Team which won the Division III State and New England NAIA (National Association of Interscholastic Athletics) Championships four years in a row (1978-1982) as well as three Northeast Collegiate Conference Championships in a row (1979, 1980 and 1981). He was a member of the NAIA All District 5 Team in 1979, 1980 and 1981. While a Husson Golf Team member playing at Nationals, Norris was the only team member that qualified for National Honors. He was also the first golfer from Husson to be named All-American. Keith Mahaney, the Athletic Director at that time, considers Mike Norris the greatest golfer at Husson College. Brian Enman, one of Mike’s coaches at Husson College and the former long time golf professional at the Bangor Municipal Golf Course states, “Mike had the most natural talent of any golfer I have seen and was a very good ball striker and did very well in all phases of the game”. Bruce MacGregor, the legendary Men’s Basketball and Golf coach and one of Mike’s college coaches while at Husson states, “Mike was one of the best golfers at Husson, was an outstanding athlete and represented the school very well in many tournaments during his college years. Mike was always calm and collected and kept his composure in tense situations on the golf course, which resulted in performing very well.” Mike Norris was inducted into the Husson College Hall of Fame in 1996.
Norris’ golfing excellence continued well after his high school and college years. Mike and his father, John Norris, won the father/son Maine State Golf Association Championship two years in a row at the Natanis Golf Club in Vassalboro, Maine in 1992 and 1993. In 1999 Norris won the R.H. Foster Energy/Mobile Paul Bunyan Amateur Golf Tournament, New England’s largest amateur golf tournament. He has participated in the Maine State Amateur Golf Tournaments every weekend since 1983 to the present day and has won over 100 events. A hole in one is a once in a lifetime achievement for any golfer and that feat eludes even the most avid golfers. Mike Norris has made a hole in one an incredible six times!
Mike Norris is the son of John and Margaret (deceased) Norris. Mike and his wife of 33 years Laura (Tapley) reside in Newburgh, Maine and have two grown children, Zachary and Olivia. Zachary graduated from the University of Maine in Electrical Engineering with top honors and lives in Waterville, Maine. Olivia graduated from University of Maine in Farmington in Elementary Teacher Education and lives in New Orleans. For the past 35 years Mike Norris has been a salesman for the Pine State Trading Company and his wife Laura has been a school nurse in Winterport, Maine.
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Mike Norris and his presenter John Norris