Norris Lee Weese (August 12, 1951 – January 20, 1995) was a professional

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

. He was a star quarterback for

Chalmette High School Chalmette High School is a public secondary school in the unincorporated Chalmette area of St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is a part of St. Bernard Parish Public Schools. History The history of Chalmette High School began ...

and the

University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi (Epithet, byname Ole Miss) is a Public university, public research university in University, near Oxford, Mississippi, United States, with a University of Mississippi Medical Center, medical center in Jackson, Miss ...

. He had the unenviable task of succeeding Mississippi QB legend

Archie Manning Elisha Archibald Manning III (born May 19, 1949) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons, primarily with the New Orleans Saints from 1971 to 1982. He also h ...

, but performed well in the key position. Recalling the November 4, 1972 game in

Baton Rouge Baton Rouge ( ; , ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It had a population of 227,470 at the 2020 United States census, making it List of municipalities in Louisiana, Louisiana's second-m ...

in which Ole Miss lost to

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

, 17–16, because of a unique touchdown catch from quarterback

Bert Jones Bertram Hays Jones (born September 7, 1951) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for the Baltimore Colts and Los Angeles Rams. He was named the NFL Most Valuable Player ...

to LSU running back Brad Davis, Weese said Tiger Stadium "just exploded with thousands of fans jumping high in the night air." Until that point the Rebels had outplayed LSU all night long. Weese played the 1974 season for

The Hawaiians Hawaiians are the indigenous people of the Hawaiian Islands. Hawaiians or The Hawaiians may also refer to: * The Hawaiians (WFL), a football team in the World Football League from 1974 to 1975 * ''The Hawaiians'' (film), a 1970 American hi ...

in the

World Football League The World Football League (WFL) was an American football league that played one full season in 1974 in sports, 1974 and most of its second in 1975 in sports, 1975. Although the league's proclaimed ambition was to bring American football onto a w ...

before joining the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

. He spent four seasons in the NFL playing for the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West, West division. The team is headquartered in E ...

(1976–1979), mostly as a backup quarterback. In

Super Bowl XII Super Bowl XII was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion 1977 Dallas Cowboys season, Dallas Cowboys and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion 1977 Denver Broncos season, Denver Broncos to dec ...

against the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...

, where his famed high school head coach Bobby Nuss held the chains, Weese replaced starter Craig Morton in the third quarter after Morton nearly threw his 5th interception. Weese led the Broncos to a touchdown on the drive to cut his team's deficit to 20–10, but he lost a fumble in the fourth quarter, setting up a Dallas touchdown that put the game away. He was known for being a mobile QB. Weese was named starting quarterback for the Broncos in 1979, but a knee injury that year ended his NFL career. He finished his career with 1887 passing yards, seven touchdowns and fourteen interceptions. Weese went on to become a

certified public accountant Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is the title of qualified accountants in numerous countries in the English-speaking world. It is generally equivalent to the title of chartered accountant in other English-speaking countries. In the United Stat ...

Denver, Colorado Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

. Norris Weese died on January 20, 1995, of

bone cancer A bone tumor is an neoplastic, abnormal growth of tissue in bone, traditionally classified as benign, noncancerous (benign) or malignant, cancerous (malignant). Cancerous bone tumors usually originate from a cancer in another part of the body su ...

. To this day, Weese holds the record for most single game rushing yards as a quarterback in Broncos history, rushing for 120 yards on 12 carries against the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

on December 12, 1976.

References

External links

Norris Weese obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weese, Norris 1951 births 1995 deaths American football punters American football quarterbacks Denver Broncos players The Hawaiians players Ole Miss Rebels football players Deaths from bone cancer in the United States Deaths from cancer in Colorado People from Chalmette, Louisiana Players of American football from Baton Rouge, Louisiana Ole Miss Rebels baseball players