Hall of Honor
A 1916 graduate of Walworth High School, Norris Rowbotham was a non-traditional college student because he helped his father farm for five years before enrolling at Beloit. Despite his diminutive size and 170 pounds, he was respected as the scrappiest man on championship football teams, primarily as a lineman who won four letters, gained all-midwest honors as a junior, and earned praise from the legendary Knute-Rockne as an outstanding “vest pocket guard.” He also excelled in wrestling, then an intramural sport, captured the college title, and coached other for three years, picking up the name “Chocker” along the way. Described in references by mentor Tommy Mills as “one of our finest athletes,” Rowbotham accepted a position as coach and physical education teacher at Sheboygan High School. Later, he coached and directed athletics and Milton College for five years and became the first non-alumnus elected to its Athletic Hall of Fame in recognition of his successful efforts to raise dramatically the standards of the sports program in both physically and fiscally. Rowbotham then turned an interest in land acquisition into a new career, becoming a successful dairy farmer near Walworth before retiring.
