Martin William Norton ( Muhvich; – October 8, 1977) was an American sportsman and convicted fraudster. Born in northern Minnesota, he was adopted by a family in Minneapolis who had noticed him running in the woods as a young boy. He became a top athlete and received varsity letters in six sports at Central High School in Minneapolis, serving as team captain in multiple sports and earning all-city honors in basketball and football. After playing for several basketball teams, Norton was very briefly enrolled at the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts, then attended Hamline University for a month.
After leaving Hamline, Norton joined the Minneapolis Marines of the National Football League (NFL), scoring two touchdowns during the 1922 NFL season. He played for the Ironwood Legion in 1923, then returned to the Minneapolis Marines in 1924, also briefly playing college football for the DePaul Blue Demons in the same season. In 1925, Norton became a coach at Ripon College in Wisconsin and also played for the Green Bay Packers, finishing as their leading scorer that season and the NFL leader in receiving touchdowns. He played for the Rock Island Independents of the American Football League (AFL) in 1926 at the end of his professional football career. During this time, and through 1930, he also played for several independent basketball teams and was regarded as one of the top basketball players in the northwest.
Norton retired from sports due to low salaries and began selling magazines. He was arrested and imprisoned numerous times over the next two decades, starting in 1928. He often sold fake magazine subscriptions, sometimes under many different aliases, to school teachers with the intention of keeping the money for himself. He was jailed in 1931, escaped, was jailed again and then escaped once more before being caught one year later after a nationwide search. After a parole in 1933, he resumed selling fake magazines and was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in 1934 for forgery.
While serving that sentence, Norton was credited with saving the life of a prison guard and was paroled again in 1936. However, he was jailed at the end of the year, and after being released, violated the conditions of his parole and was sent back to jail. Norton was released from prison in 1940 and continued his fraudulent magazine sales, being wanted in five states by the end of the year. After another jail sentence, he returned to the same activities around 1946 and received a seven-year sentence in 1947. After finishing that sentence, not much was reported on Norton until his death in 1977.
Early life Norton was born to Joseph Muhvich, an Austrian lumberman, and a Hungarian gypsy mother. His birth date is uncertain: according to Pro Football Archives, he was born on November 11, 1901, in Ely, Minnesota, while Pro Football Reference records him to have been born on March 17, 1905. A 1920 article in The Minneapolis Journal listed his place of birth as Hunter Island, Canada, and gave an age that would have had him born in 1902 or 1903. The Courier, Green Bay Press-Gazette, and Neenah News-Record each gave ages that would have dated his birth to 1901/1902, 1902/1903, and 1906/1907, respectively.
Norton's parents took poor care of him; according to The Des Moines Register, "Marty didn't know what a home was [and] had no opportunity for education". His mother often wandered and eventually died from alcoholism. At age eight, he was adopted by Mr. and Mrs. W. I. Norton, a couple in Minneapolis. According to later testimony at a parole board meeting by a woman who knew the family:
High school
Norton grew up playing sports, being a top baseball catcher at Bryant grade school in 1916 and 1917. He then attended Central High School in Minneapolis where he was a standout athlete. He competed in football, basketball, track and field, cross country, tennis and baseball. He was considered Central's first star basketball player and served as team captain in football, basketball and tennis, receiving 18 total varsity letters.
Norton won his first letter at Central in the spring of 1918 in cross country. He was the top high school cross country athlete in the city at the time and won two notable competitions. He also excelled in track and field, participating in middle-distance running events and the pole vault. In football, Norton was as an end and first played in 1918 before becoming a starter in 1919. He was described by The Minneapolis Journal as "fast and aggressive [with] an unusually brainy game" in football. In basketball, Norton played as a forward and guard, becoming the scoring leader for the 1918–19 team and then being elected captain for the 1919–20 season as a junior. He was named all-city in basketball in 1918–19 and repeated in 1919–20 (being chosen captain of the all-city team). This was the same year that he led Central to the city and Twin Cities championships and a fourth-place finish at a national tournament. He was selected to a national all-star team and received praise from college basketball coach Harlan Page, who sent Norton a letter congratulating him for his "unusual ability to alter his speed while dribbling down the floor ... one of the most difficult [feats] known to basketball".
Norton was re-elected captain for his senior basketball season. He also played as a quarterback and halfback in the 1920 football season, with his play in one game being described by the Star Tribune as the most "brilliant" performance of any high school athlete that year. Norton was chosen captain of the 1921 football team following the 1920 season. He was named captain of the all-city basketball team after the 1920–21 season as well as chosen all-state, and he was also an all-city pick in his last two football seasons. He helped the 1920–21 basketball team to a state championship, the only one in the history of Central. In the summer, he lived in Hibbing, Minnesota, declaring his intention to attend Hibbing High School for his last year. He was a member of the football team for one day before he "threatened to disorganize the entire local eleven and his services were dispensed with". Afterwards, Norton returned to the football team at Central.
In addition to his successes in football, basketball, track and cross country, Norton was his school's second-best tennis player. He also competed as an amateur boxer and was a talented swimmer. Central coach Weston Mitchell called Norton the most talented all-around athlete he had ever seen, while The Minneapolis Journal described him as "one of the most brilliant all-around athletes ever developed in the local schools". By the 1930s, he was considered the greatest athlete to come from a school in Minneapolis. In 1936, Cedric Adams of The Minneapolis Star, in declaring him the all-time greatest high school athlete in the area, described him as having "a certain primitive, savage quality that made him a flash on the basketball floor, the fleetest of track stars [and] one of the most formidable of gridiron warriors." Norton graduated from Central in December 1921.
College and professional career
1921–1923 After finishing high school, Norton signed to play with the St. Stephens basketball team as a forward. He played with several basketball teams during the 1921–22 season, including the 151st Artillery team, Ballentine Post, Hennepin-Lake, the St. Paul Kaysees and Waldron Globe Trotters. At the start of September 1922, it was announced that Norton planned on attending the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. After he had joined the football team, it was discovered Norton lacked the Latin credits required by Holy Cross, and he had to leave the school. He enrolled at Hamline University instead, and joined the Hamline Pipers team.
However, within a month, Norton left Hamline and joined the Minneapolis Marines of the National Football League (NFL) in October 1922. He made his NFL debut on October 22 in a loss to the Chicago Cardinals, starting for the Marines at right halfback. He was reported as one of the team's "stars" in their subsequent non-league win against the Duluth Kelleys. Against Jim Thorpe's Oorang Indians the following week, he had his best game of the season, scoring two touchdowns in a 13–6 win. The Green Bay Press-Gazette described him as the "big star" of the game and called him a "good ground gainer ... a good tackler and a dandy kicker and interference man". The Winona Daily News reported that he "dazzled" the Indians with "an exhibition of open field and end running seldom seen on the gridiron". Afterwards, the Marines concluded their NFL campaign with a 14–6 loss to the Green Bay Packers; despite the loss, Norton was mentioned in The Post-Crescent as having played "a whale of a game". He finished the NFL season with three games played, all starts, and two touchdowns as the Marines went 1–3 in league play. Norton also played in the Marines' games after the NFL season, scoring an extra point in a win against the Omaha Olympics and both a touchdown and an extra point in a win against the University All-Stars.
Norton re-signed with the Waldron Globe Trotters (or Minneapolis Globe Trotters) for the 1922–23 basketball season. He was one of the top basketball players in the northwest and served as the Globe Trotters captain. In the 1923 football season, he was released by the Marines and signed to play with the Ironwood Legion as a quarterback. He was one of their top-performing backs and at the same time, Norton attended DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois, playing for the DePaul Blue Demons football team. The Star Tribune called him the "most consistent gainer" with DePaul and noted that "Long before the season was over he was hailed as one of the best men ever to perform in a DePaul uniform, his versatility placing him in the first rank of the Catholic conference".
1924–1930 After the football season, Norton joined the Muscatine Elks (or Muskies) in Iowa for the 1923–24 basketball season. He was dubbed the "Wonder Man of the Northwest" for his basketball abilities. Norton was used as a forward by Muscatine and according to The Des Moines Register was considered "probably the best" player in that section of the U.S. He also briefly played for the DePaul Blue Demons basketball team in 1923–24 as a "star" forward before he was declared ineligible. The DePaul team eventually won the conference championship. At Muscatine, the team aimed for the title of world champions, but after a loss to the Globe Trotters where Norton played poorly, they both released him and then disbanded. After his release, he concluded the season with the 151st Field Artillery team.
In July 1924, Norton re-signed to play with the Minneapolis Marines while also announcing his intention to enroll at the University of Minnesota, with his money earned from the Marines to pay for his education. During this time, he also coached the Ascher Nicollet-Lake Merchants amateur football team. He was one of the leading players for the Marines in the 1924 season, with Green Bay Packers coach Curly Lambeau calling him one of the best backs in the country. Considered their most consistent running back, he appeared in all six of the Marines' NFL games, four as a starter, and scored two touchdowns; the Marines lost all six. Norton later re-signed with the Globe Trotters for the subsequent basketball season, also playing with the 151st Artillery team and the Minneapolis Whiz Bangs, which he captained. His Whiz Bangs team was described as "one of the classiest traveling basketball organizations in the country".