Mr. Rodney Brent Norris

Mr. Rodney Brent "Coach" Norris, age 74, born in Jacksonville, Florida, from Tallahassee, Florida, formerly of Thomaston, Georgia, died peacefully Tuesday, April 8, 2025, at Big Bend Hospice in Tallahassee, Florida.

Mr. Norris was the son of the late Ostelle and Betty Yates Norris. He is survived by his wife, Mary Beth of Tallahassee, Florida, son and daughter-in-law, Brian and Keely Norris of Temple Hills, Maryland, sister, Carol Norris Odom of Thomaston, Georgia, and brother, Michael Russ Norris of Thomaston, Georgia. Brent was the loving uncle of Shannon Odom, Lisa Odom Holmes and Andy Johnson, Dixie Michele Odom and Philip Webb, and grand uncle to Charlie Holmes, Cameron Holmes, Silas Barfield, Bella Grace Webb, Sadie Millwood, and Lucas Webb.

He also leaves behind a community of friends with whom he laughed and cried, students and athletes that he taught and coached, and fellow coaches that he worked alongside, learned from, and competed with and against, all of whom he appreciated and loved dearly.

Brent Norris was a football coach. Throughout his life, he tried to be many other things. But some people are made for a singular purpose, and Brent Norris was made to be a football coach. Depending on when you met him, you might have thought he was a football hero, a basketball star, a future big league ball player, a bartender, a professional "life of the party", a golfer, a caddy, a salesman, or a dreamer. And you would have been wrong. Brent Norris was a football coach. He always was, and he always will be. You might think, because of his accolades as a football player, that it was his love of the game that made him a football coach. He scored touchdowns, forced turnovers, signed autographs, shook hands, and kissed babies like the hometown hero he was. But again, you would be wrong. Brent Norris was a football coach because he loved children. During the interludes of his life where he tried to be something else, it was not the game that called him back to his destiny. It was always the kids. He loved to win. He loved to score points. He loved to throw the ball. But more than any of those things he loved to teach. Whether it was instructing the mechanical minutia of throwing a football or imparting hard-learned lessons for life, he was there to build young men first and win football games second.

Brent was proudly from and made by two places: R.E. Lee Institute of Thomaston, Georgia, and Florida State University of Tallahassee, Florida. He is a member of the Thomaston-Upson Sports Hall of Fame and a varsity letterman at FSU where he played both football and golf. No matter if he was in San Diego, California, or Binghamton, New York, or anywhere in between, Thomaston would always be home and he would always love the Seminoles. What he was most proud of was that both his son and daughter-in-law were not only fellow Seminoles, but they had both chosen to take up the family business as a "Coach Norris".

Brent was not an every Sunday church-goer, but he was a man of immense faith. He believed in the sovereignty of God and trusted in His plan even on the darkest days. And he lived out his faith every day that he took a breath. Brent was remarkably selfless. As both a husband and father and a son and brother, he loved his family with an undying devotion. There was nothing he was unwilling to sacrifice for them. Much like anyone else, he wasn't perfect. Not every decision in his life was the correct one, and not everything went according to plan. But you can guarantee that every one of those decisions, regardless of the outcome, was made with someone else in mind. He lived to serve, to support, to encourage, and to love. No one knew this more than Beth and Brian, for whom he would have walked to the ends of the earth. Brent spent his life standing up for those who could not stand or speak for themselves. He stood for the orphans and widows. He protected the vulnerable. And he was there for you when you were afraid.

It would be inappropriate, in this case, to ignore the last years of Brent's life and the unimaginably cruel fate that befell him. Dementia, in its many forms, with its many ugly faces, is truly horrible, both for those who suffer from it and their families. So often, it slowly destroys parts of the person it grabs hold of. Surely this happened to Brent as well. But in some ways, over the years, it only continued to reveal who he really was. He never stopped laughing. He never stopped telling jokes. He never stopped telling everyone around him how wonderful they were and how much he appreciated them. His childlike nature, his silly grins, and his kindness could never be dampened. For years after he had become very sick, if you spoke to him, you knew your conversation would end the same way every time: "You'll let me know if there's anything I can do for you, right?" And you had better answer him "right". It did not matter if he remembered who you were or not, he just wanted to help you. No disease could ever touch his kindness and his gentleness.

Only one person ever knew him as "dad". And he gave him everything he had and then some. But what made him so uniquely beautiful is that he gave all of that to everyone that knew him as Coach Norris, too. In his time on earth, he raised exactly one son. But no one will ever know the number of sons and daughters Coach Norris ensured would be loved by at least one person because they knew him. No one will ever know the number of families started by young men that grew up knowing the love of a father because they played for Coach Norris. He will be terribly missed. and while his body may be gone from this life, trust that he is never far from you. Surely as you read this, he is on the back 9 with Tim, Ostelle, and a truly entertained fourth. In the meantime, you'll let him know if there's anything he can do for you, right?

Please join us for a visitation Thursday, April 17th, from 5pm until 7pm and funeral services Friday, April 18th, at 2pm to say goodbye to Coach Norris at the chapel of Fletcher-Day Funeral Home in Thomaston.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to Big Bend Hospice in Tallahassee, Florida, where he was treated with great love, care, and dignity in his final days.