Carroll football honors a hero on way to championship game

Even with no school at Bishop Carroll this week, football coach Alan Schuckman has been inundated with work. There’s a multitude of meetings along with preparing his team for the Class 5A title game Saturday. Oh, and of course, Thanksgiving and family,

But just as he has every day since mid-May, Schuckman thinks about Chris Norgren.

Norgren died May 12 at age 31. He was among six Marines and two Nepalese soldiers who died in the crash of a UH-1 helicopter in a rugged, remote area of Nepal. They were part of a U.S. relief mission deployed soon after a magnitude-7.8 quake hit April 25, killing more than 8,200 people.

Norgren’s helicopter was delivering rice and tarps in Charikot, the area worst hit by the second quake on the day of the crash. Officials said it had dropped off supplies in one location and was en route to a second site when contact was lost.

Five years before his death, Norgren was a Carroll assistant coach. Before that, he played for Schuckman.

“He spent a lot of time with kids in groups and mentoring them about what it takes to be a leader,” Schuckman said. “And what it takes to do the right things, to be an example. He was always there for them. He built that relationship and had their trust. He had an innate ability to motivate and inspire kids.

“… I felt like there was a need to honor him and his contributions to our program and the world.”

Schuckman didn’t dedicate the Eagles’ season to Norgren.

“Chris would have been the first to say that our program is not about dedicating it to one person or one thing,” Schuckman said. “It’s about a group of players that came before us and who are here now and will come in the future.”

But Schuckman wanted to find a way to weave Norgren through his program that includes a majority of players who never knew him.

The team visited Norgren’s grave before one game. Each helmet has a sticker with his initials and an American flag. Carroll coaches told the players about Norgren and told them how he lived and how died.

“I’ve never met him. I heard a lot of great things from the coaches,” senior cornerback Kyle Gericke said. “He seems like an outstanding guy, who cared about everyone more than himself. He’s the embodiment of what Carroll is about. It’s not about you but about how you can help the team.”

While most Eagles players didn’t know it, Norgren’s ideals had already been woven through the fabric of the team.

Norgren, who graduated in 2002, played on Carroll’s offensive line and returned as an assistant in 2009 after he joined the Marines. He was more than an Xs and Os guy; he implemented discipline.

Schuckman already ran a tight ship, but Norgren took it to the next level at Schuckman’s request.

“At that time, Carroll was on the rise and not necessarily stuck, but we couldn’t get over the state championship hump,” said Tyler Nance, Carroll’s athletic trainer who was the quarterback in the 2010 Class 5A title game. “When Coach Norgren … came back from the Marine Corps, he asked coach if he could help out, saying that he thought he could ultimately get us to where we want to be. I think that’s one of the biggest things is having the sense of discipline and the sense of doing things for the other person.”

Carroll went undefeated and won Class 5A in 2012 and 2014.

The Eagles still utilize Norgren’s conditioning and team-building five years later, especially during Hell Week, which is intense conditioning.

“One thing we do is push a weighted sled, where we designate people to their strengths to give us the best opportunity to win,” senior linebacker Trent Nance said. “ … If one can’t do something, someone has to be able to come in and step up and do it for them.”

The Eagles also split into squads that have names such as “Pride” and “Honor.”

“He sacrificed his life, but he took our program to the next level with how we conduct our practices and how hard we work, too,” senior quarterback Jake Allen said. “A lot of it is attributed to him. We feel he needs to be carried on, that his spirit gets carried on.”

Schuckman wanted to ensure Norgren’s contributions went beyond the physical and mental. His goal this season was to encourage the Eagles to live like Norgren.

“For 31 years, he lived life to the fullest, even before going to the military,” his mother, Terri Norgren, said. “He didn’t hold back. There were no regrets. I think that’s what the coaches want the kids to do. I want them to do it.”

But Schuckman also emphasized that Chris Norgren put others’ needs before his own.

So Schuckman decided to honor one player each week who lived like Norgren. The player would carry a flag — a black flag with a red insignia that is a replica of Norgren’s squadron flag — and lead the Eagles onto the field.

Schuckman reached out to Carroll staff members to nominate an athlete each week who did a random act of kindness or stood up for another student.

“The flag presentation is a big deal to me,” Schuckman said. “They may view him as a hero because of the way he died because they didn’t know him. I view him as a hero because of the way he lived his life.”

Some of the players selected were Allen, offensive lineman Kirk Murphy and junior receiver Ethan Lopez, who won the honor twice.

“I see the flag out there,” Terri Norgren said. “It makes me so proud to see them do that.”

On Thursday, at the end of Carroll’s morning practice, she presented the flag.

She accepted the invitation because Carroll football meant so much to her son; she still attends Carroll games more than a decade after Chris graduated.

She doesn’t know if Carroll will win another 5A title on Saturday, but she said it doesn’t matter.

“They have gone above and beyond. Physically and emotionally and spiritually they have challenged themselves,” Norgren said. “… I know Chris would say the same thing. I know Chris is watching. He’s so proud.”

This story was originally published November 27, 2015 at 10:42 AM with the headline "Carroll football honors a hero on way to championship game."