Merritt James Norvell Jr. (February 12, 1941 – October 19, 2020) was an American college athletics administrator. He served as the

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and university, universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of c ...

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

from 1995 to 1998. Norvell attended Jacksonville High School in

Jacksonville, Illinois Jacksonville is a city in Morgan County, Illinois, Morgan County, Illinois, United States. The population was 19,446 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Morgan County. It is home to Illinois College, Illinois School for the Deaf, and the ...

, were he starred in four sports. He moved on to the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which ...

, where he played college football for the

Wisconsin Badgers The Wisconsin Badgers are the athletic teams representing the University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin). They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I level (NCAA Di ...

as a halfback and was a member of the

1962 Wisconsin Badgers football team The 1962 Wisconsin Badgers football team represented the University of Wisconsin in the 1962 NCAA University Division football season. Wisconsin was the Big Ten Conference champion and was ranked second in both final major polls, released in ea ...

that played in the

1963 Rose Bowl The 1963 Rose Bowl was the 49th edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California on Tuesday, January 1, at the end of the 1962 season. The top-ranked USC Trojans defeated the Wisconsin Badgers, 42&ndash ...

. Norvell died on October 19, 2020, in

Lansing, Michigan Lansing () is the capital of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is mostly in Ingham County, although portions of the city extend west into Eaton County and north into Clinton County. The 2020 census placed the city's population at 112,644, maki ...

. Norvell's son,

Jay Norvell Merritt James Norvell III (born March 28, 1963) is an American college football coach and former player who is currently the head coach for the Colorado State Rams. Norvell served as the head football coach at University of Nevada, Reno from 2017 ...

, is a football coach and former player.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Norvell, Merritt 1941 births 2020 deaths American football halfbacks Michigan State Spartans athletic directors Wisconsin Badgers football players Sportspeople from Jacksonville, Illinois Players of American football from Illinois African-American college athletic directors in the United States