Below is a statement released by the family of Kay Norris on Wednesday. She was a longtime employee at OSU who is being accused of over-paying Oklahoma State football players. Here is the statement in its entirety.
Before the world learned of the inspiring story of Leigh Anne Tuohy and Michael Oher through the hit film "The Blind Side," "Momma Norris” was at Oklahoma State, taking student-athletes under her wing and steadfastly empowering them with the similar emotional, spiritual and intellectual tools that would help them soar, not merely as athletes, but as human beings.
If there was one word that sums up the way Kay Norris lead her entire life, it would be “excellence”. She lived a life of excellence as a daughter, student, wife, mother, grandmother, teacher and yes, fan.
One thing you would quickly learn after meeting “Momma Norris” was that perhaps second only to her grandkids, Kay loved her sports and always had, going all the way back to the days when as a little girl, she’d keep meticulous box scores and stats of her favorite baseball teams and players.
Kay spent what would be the last few years of her life in a veritable heaven on earth: volunteering within her alma mater’s athletic department. She tirelessly tutored student-athletes, envisioned and created from the bottom up what would become Heritage Hall, Oklahoma State University’s Athletic Hall of Fame, and attended each and every game of the student-athlete’s she was committed to. She was a perpetual support system both in and out of the stands — and she did it all out of love.
Whether it was pulling Les Miles aside to privately discuss a concern she had for one of the players on a personal level or offering unsought coaching advice on how she thought he should prepare for an upcoming opponent, or checking in with Rashaun Woods to see how the bass were biting, or making sure Seymore Shaw was studying for an upcoming English exam, Kay poured every ounce of wisdom, insight and experience into both the kids and staff within the OSU athletic program, ensuring that the same excellence with which she lived her life was encouraged in everyone and everything she touched.
Suffice it to say that in imagining her name would ever be mentioned in a Sports Illustrated article, we always assumed it would be to sing her praises in the same breath as Ms. Tuohy and countless women — “mommas”—these unsung heroes around the country from the smallest junior colleges to the grandest Division I programs, who spend their time and energy ensuring that student-athletes reach their full potential even, and perhaps especially, when they can’t see that potential themselves.
Words can’t express the shock and heartbreak we felt as we read the recent Sports Illustrated article wherein with a brief swipe of the keyboard, George Dohrmann and Thayer Evans darkened the rightfully pristine and shining legacy of our wife, mother and grandmother.
All allegations that Kay Norris ever violated NCAA rules by paying Oklahoma State football players are utterly untrue.
In adhering to her integral sense of excellence, she would often comment that she was “off to compliance again” to make sure she understood what was, and was not, within the rules of supporting a NCAA athlete. Though she often quipped that some of these rules she felt were a bit “ticky-tack,” she would always follow up with, “it’s a pain in the rear, but I know it helps keep the playing ground fair for everyone, and that’s what’s most important.”
“Momma Norris” was all about fair play. Abiding by the rules, whether you agreed with them or not. It was just part of who she was and what she instilled in all of us.
Greg Richmond, one of Kay’s many beloved student-athletes who served as a pallbearer after she lost her valiant fight with lung cancer in 2006, said of her, “I looked at Kay as a grandmother I never had. Respected her to the utmost. Would do anything for her.”
And she would do anything for them, within the rules.
Kay Norris did give everything she had to Oklahoma State athletics and its players, but it was not monetary — she gave herself. And last time we checked, that was not a violation but a pillar of NCAA philosophy.
The intention of the Sports Illustrated article was to tear down. We, the family of Kay Norris, hope that by sharing the truth about her extraordinary life, we can instead build up and celebrate all that is right and good in the world of college athletics and those who love and support the athletes in the spirit of fair play.
This is what “Momma Norris” stood for. This what we thought Sports Illustrated stood for. We hope that George Dohrmann, Thayer Evans and SI will set the record straight because Kay Norris and men and women like her across the country, deserve their legacy of excellence to shine brightly within the pages of this heralded magazine, not dimmed with false allegations.
College Football
There's not enough evidence yet to declare that the defense has arrived, but evidence thus far is promising.
