Don Norton
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| No. 88 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position | End | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Born | March 13, 1938 Iowa City, Iowa, U.S.[1] | ||||||||
| Died | June 23, 1997 (aged 59) Cedar Rapids, Iowa, U.S. | ||||||||
| Listed height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | ||||||||
| Listed weight | 190 lb (86 kg) | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| High school | Anamosa (IA)[2] | ||||||||
| College | Iowa | ||||||||
| NFL draft | 1960: 5th round, 56th overall pick | ||||||||
| AFL draft | 1960: 1st round | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
| Awards and highlights | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
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Donald Farris Norton (March 3, 1938 – June 23, 1997) was an American professional football player who was an end in the American Football League (AFL). He played college football for the Iowa Hawkeyes and was selected by the newly formed AFL in 1960, playing seven seasons for the Los Angeles/San Diego Chargers (1960–1966), making the AFL All-Star team in 1961 and 1962. After retiring, Norton began to experience health problems from steroid use, which was widespread in the teams he played on. He suffered a heart attack at the age of 59 and died in 1997 after undergoing open heart surgery.[3]
AFL career statistics
| Legend | |
|---|---|
| Won the AFL championship | |
| Bold | Career high |
Regular season
| Year | Team | Games | Receiving | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Rec | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | ||
| 1960 | LAC | 14 | 6 | 25 | 414 | 16.6 | 69 | 5 |
| 1961 | SDG | 14 | 14 | 47 | 816 | 17.4 | 52 | 6 |
| 1962 | SDG | 14 | 14 | 48 | 771 | 16.1 | 47 | 7 |
| 1963 | SDG | 7 | 6 | 21 | 281 | 13.4 | 36 | 1 |
| 1964 | SDG | 14 | 13 | 49 | 669 | 13.7 | 58 | 6 |
| 1965 | SDG | 14 | 12 | 34 | 485 | 14.3 | 61 | 2 |
| 1966 | SDG | 14 | 4 | 4 | 50 | 12.5 | 18 | 0 |
| Career | 91 | 69 | 228 | 3,486 | 15.3 | 69 | 27 | |
Playoffs
| Year | Team | Games | Receiving | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Rec | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | ||
| 1960 | LAC | 1 | 1 | 6 | 55 | 9.2 | 18 | 0 |
| 1961 | SDG | 1 | 1 | 3 | 48 | 16.0 | 28 | 0 |
| 1963 | SDG | 1 | 1 | 2 | 44 | 22.0 | 30 | 1 |
| 1964 | SDG | 1 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 13.0 | 13 | 0 |
| 1965 | SDG | 1 | 1 | 1 | 35 | 35.0 | 35 | 0 |
| Career | 5 | 5 | 13 | 195 | 15.0 | 35 | 1 | |
See also
References
- ↑ "PLAYERS Don Norton". NFL. Retrieved September 23, 2011.
- ↑ Iowa High School Sports News by Sports Spotlight - High School - Off the Bench: All-Time Native Iowans in the NFL[link removed] Retrieved 2014-11-24.
- ↑ Quinn, T. J. (January 28, 2009). "OTL: Football's first steroids team? The '63 Chargers". ESPN.com. Retrieved August 9, 2026.
Categories:
- 1938 births
- 1997 deaths
- Players of American football from Iowa City, Iowa
- American football wide receivers
- Iowa Hawkeyes football players
- Los Angeles Chargers players
- San Diego Chargers players
- American Football League All-Star players
- People from Anamosa, Iowa
- American Football League players
- American football wide receiver, pre-1940 birth stubs