Starr's Mill's Norman to play baseball for Naval Academy

The number 24 has a lot of significance in Starr’s Mill senior David Norman’s life.

It’s the number his sister Jenny wore at East Tennessee State when she played basketball. It’s also the date his mother Lynn passed away last December. And now it will be the number he will wear next spring when he plays baseball at the Naval Academy.

Monday afternoon, as Norman, who catches for the Panthers, officially signed with Navy, his family and friends filled the Media Center to support him.

It’s a long process to be an applicant at the Naval Academy, but Norman said that after Navy recruited him, Congressman Lynn Westmoreland nominated him for an appointment to the Naval Academy.

“I want to say that my sister is the living angel in my life, and my mother is the angel in heaven looking down on me,” Norman said. “My dad, Jenny and I reached this point together.”

Pictured in the front row are Jenny Norman, David Norman and Dave Norman.In the back row are Shane Ratliffe, Mike Davis, Walt Ellison, head baseball coach Brent Moseley, Principal Audrey Toney and Derick Laney. Photo/Special.

This story was submitted by Lauren Hatcher ’10 - The Prowler