DANBURY SCHOOL’S NEWEST BUILDING HAS OLDEST HISTORY Part #3 - Lorrie Halblaub
This is a continuation of the story of Fred Norton, for whom Danbury Local Schools named their new 25,000 sq. ft. Field House, the Norton Center, that opened in October 2024.
Amazing College Years
In September of 1913, Fred entered Ohio State University. The brown-haired, blue-eyed freshman, 5’11” and 175 lbs., decided he might play some sports too, like he did in high school. By the time he was a senior in college, sportswriters were calling Fred “the greatest all-around athlete in Ohio State history.
In the fall, he played football wearing a leather helmet and little padding. His sophomore year, he stepped in to quarterback when the first-string man was injured. They won 7-6. Fred was a blocking back for the famous Chic Harley, and Fred once scored six touchdowns in a half against Indiana. Fred was an integral part of the 1916 championship football team that won the Big 10 title. They were the first undefeated Buckeyes football team in school history and are credited with helping to make OSU Football generate the excitement it does today.
In the winter, Fred played guard in basketball. He was the captain his senior year, and in one game he scored 36 goals himself and the whole opposing team scored 11.
In the spring, he played baseball and ran the quarter mile in track. In baseball playing shortstop, he was 1917’s most valuable player with a .442 batting average and helped win Ohio State’s first Western Championship title. As a senior he received the “Runmaker’s Cup” as the team’s best player. The papers were saying that he was good enough to play professional baseball and was being scouted by the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Years later, in 2010 Fred Norton was inducted into the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame. He was recognized for being the first person to be a four-sport letter winner at OSU. The award came 93 years late, and might never have happened if it weren’t for the efforts of Fred’s cousin Tom Lynch. He had attended a Buckeyes game where they inducted a group into the hall of fame and wondered why Fred was not a member. That started Tom on a year’s long journey that culminated that day in 2010 when Tom stood on Ohio Field and accepted the award for Fred.
Fred played four sports while maintaining a 4.0 average and was inducted into the Bucket and Dipper, a junior class honorary, and the Sphinx, a senior class honorary which was the oldest and most prestigious on campus.
He graduated in the spring of 1917 with a degree in Forestry. Fred could have done just about anything he wanted with his life. He was a born leader, smart, athletic, and well-liked. His teammates called him “Nortie” or the “Smiling Irishman” and Chic Harley called him “Fritz”. But Fred’s country was calling him. World War I was raging and while in college, he joined the Reserve Officer Training Corps. He graduated as a Private First Class in the school’s military aeronautics program. Fred had discovered his love of flying planes and, of course, he was good at it. Very, very good.
Next article: The War
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