Jerry Norton

Jerry Norton, a 92-year-old retired aerospace engineer, Korean War veteran, and youth sports advocate, spent most of his nonprofessional life serving young athletes. Youngsters involved in football, baseball, softball, swimming, and tennis benefitted from his "just for fun" approach to kids' sports. He has been referred to as "youth sports greatest ambassador."

An avid tennis player, he held clinics for Special Olympic and wheelchair-bound tennis players. He is also the founder of the award-winning Junior Development League football program and is the author of two books on youth sports. He is the recipient of the Junior Chamber of Commerce's The Local Hero Award and the First Coast Cultural Center's Art of Giving Award.

After retirement, he stayed young working as a freelance sports photojournalist. During that time, he took up oil painting as therapy for pain and, despite vision in only one eye, created a gallery of more than 500 paintings, many of which populate his recent books,