Lafayette Norwood
Head Golf Coach
Southwestern College
18th season at JCCC

Lafayette Norwood has been a driving force behind the tremendous success of Johnson County Community College golf since taking over the program in 1992.  As Norwood enters his 18th season as head coach, and 25th with the college, he has set a standard of excellence that is unmatched by his predecessors.

In 17 seasons at the helm, Norwood as guided the golf team to 14 straight berths in the NJCAA National Golf Tournament.  The previous best string was two consecutive appearance in 1971 and 1972.  His teams have recorded eight top-15 and two top-10 finishes at nationals.  Norwood also captured the Kansas Jayhawk Conference title twice, finished runner-up four times and placed third seven times.  He also has coached his team to 33 tournament victories, including a record six in 2006-07.

Norwood has amassed a record of 1,510-660-5.  He surpassed the 1,000 win mark in the 2005-06 campaign.  In 2001-02, his team recorded 121 victories, the first 100-win season in JCCC golf history.  Since that season, Norwood has added four more 100-win campaigns, including a record 136-21-2 mark in 2006-07.  

In the 1995-96 campaign, Norwood led JCCC to its first NJCAA Tournament berth in 24 years, and guided them to a 24th-place finish.  A year later, the Cavaliers received their first national ranking, holding down the 19th spot in the final poll of the season.  Two weeks later the JCCC linksters improved one spot, finishing 18th at Alta Mesa Country Club in Chandler, Ariz, site of the 1997 National Tournament.  

The 1999-2000 season saw the Cavaliers win three tournaments, including a first-ever District Championship.  JCCC shot two shots better than conference champion Butler, then followed with a 13-place finish at the NJCAA Tournament, the best finish in team history at the time.

The 2001-02 season was the crowning moment of the Norwood era.  The Cavaliers, led by a record six all-conference performers, captured the program’s first Kansas Jayhawk Conference title.  They followed with a runner-up finish at Districts and a 14th-place at nationals, the second-best national finish all-time.

The 2003-04 squad etched its place in JCCC history, finishing in the top-10 at the NJCAA Championship for the first time in team history.  Tom Clifford led the way placing in a tie for 18th, the highest individual finish in team history.  The following season proved to be another year for the annuals, as JCCC  bettered its eighth-place showing of 2004 with a seventh-place finish while witnessing the first All-American performance in program history.  Jay Kramer fired the best tournament score in Cavaliers’ history, and played his way into a tie for seventh-place, which earned him second-team All-American and All-Tournament.  That team also captured the second conference title in under Norwood, won five tournaments and had five players garner all-conference accolades.

The list of individual honors won at JCCC under Norwood is just as impressive and includes one All-American, two NJCAA All-Tournament performers, 52 All-Jayhawk Conference selections, three individual conference champions, 28 All-Region/District performers, three JCCC Male Athletes of the Year and five NJCAA Academic All-Americans.

In 1994-95, Kirk Scheider, who twice earned first-team all-conference honors, capped his career by setting a school record with 43 accumulated points during the campaign.   That mark stood until 2008-09 when Miles Christensen earned 45.5 points during the conference slate.  In 2000-01, Scott McCoy became the first JCCC player to claim individual conference point title, finishing 39.5 points.  The following season saw the emergence of Chris McGown.  He placed third in the conference as a freshman, then captured the points title his sophomore season.  He also became the first JCCC golfer to be selected the Male Athlete of the Year by the JCCC coaching staff.  In 2007-08, Mike Elafros became the third player in team history to take home individual medalist honors as the top point producer in the conference.

Other players who have had success under Norwood in the conference and at nationals are Keith Early, Matt Salome and Andrew Manley.  Early became JCCC’s first player to earn first-team all-conference honors in 1992-93.  One year later, he became the first two-time all-conference selection, again earning first-team honors.  He closed out his career with a 78th-place finish at nationals.

In 2005-06, Salome and Manley finished under par at the National Tournament.  Salome set a record with a 9-under 279 total, good for a 20th-place finish.  Manley posted a 5-under 283 effort at the 2006 National Tournament, and set the single round record in the championship by a JCCC golfer, firing a 67.

Norwood’s devotion to his student-athletes’ success off the course is just as important to their success on it.  During his 17 years, he has had a number of his student-athletes receive academic honors for posting grade point averages above 3.0.  In 1997, Norwood had his first student-athlete recognized as a NJCAA Academic All-American, when Mike Maskill closed out his collegiate career at JCCC with a grade point above 3.6.  In 2003, McGown and Eric Klinger became JCCC’s second and third golfers to earn Academic All-American, and McGown became the first to earn Distinguished Academic All-American with a 4.0 grade point average.  Matt Holton became JCCC’s fourth player to earn Academic All-American in 2004, and in 2007, Joey Krsnich became the fifth player to earn Academic All-America accolades.

Norwood’s coaching career have not always been just limited to the golf.  As a guard playing for the immortal Ralph Miller at Wichita East High School, Lafayette Norwood learned from a legend then, developed his own legendary career as a basketball coach.

A 1952 graduate at Wichita East, Norwood helped lead his alma mater to a Kansas state championship in 1951.  That team today is still considered one of the best in the state.

Norwood continued his progression as a standout player at Arkansas City (Kan.) Junior College (now Cowley County Community College) where he was successful in both basketball and football for the Tigers.  Norwood amassed 876 points, the second highest career total at the school.  That total currently stands 16th all-time at Cowley County.   An NJCAA first-team All-American in 1953, Norwood led the Tigers to a runner-up finish in the national tournament.  He capped his career with the Tigers the following season by leading them to a seventh-place finish in the national tournament, again earning All-America accolades, becoming the first two-time All-American in any sport in school history.  Playing tailback for the Tigers football team, Norwood earned all-conference accolades as well. He was inducted to the Tiger Athletic Hall of Fame in 1994.

He then transferred to Southwestern College, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in physical education.  In his first season at Southwestern, Norwood helped the Builders to a 20-8 record, a CIC championship, and a berth in the NAIA National Tournament.  It was Southwestern’s final CIC title before moving to the KCAC, and its final appearance in the National Tournament.   Norwood was named to the All-CIC team and All-Tournament second-team that season.  After graduation, he earned his master’s degree in education at Wichita State University.  In September 1993, Southwestern College inducted Norwood into its Hall of Fame.

Norwood continued playing basketball playing one season of semi-professional basketball with the Wichita Vickers in the National Industrial Basketball League.  Norwood also played 17 years  of A.A.U. basketball with the May Builders in Arkansas City.  Each season, the team would compete in the Phillips 66 Oilers Tournament in Ponca City, Okla.  Norwood is a member of that tournament’s Hall of Fame.

Norwood’s 48-year coaching career began in 1957 when he took over the Wichita Biddy Basketball team.  Norwood led one squad to a championship in the World Biddy Basketball Tournament. He also had teams finish second, third, fourth and sixth.

In 1968,  Norwood was hired an assistant at Wichita East, and a year later he took over the program at Wichita Heights High School.  Norwood quickly established himself as one of the top prep coaches in Kansas with an extremely successful eight-year tenure.   He led his teams to a 109-56 record and three city championships.  His 1975-76 squad finished runner-up in the state tournament, and the 1976-77 team was undefeated and won the 6-A state title.  That title enabled Norwood to share with coaching legend Ralph Miller, the distinction of being the only two people in Kansas history to have played on and coached a men’s basketball state championship team.

In addition to his basketball duties, Norwood also coached the Wichita Heights men’s and women’s golf teams, a position he held for seven years.  Norwood led his men’s team to the state tournament three times.  

Following that memorable season, Norwood jumped to the collegiate ranks, serving as an assistant basketball coach to Ted Owens at the University of Kansas.  Norwood first built his reputation as a top recruiter when he assembled teams that helped the Jayhawk compile an 81-38 record in his four seasons (1977-81), and win two Big Eight championships.  

Norwood’s next step was to the head coaching position at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kan.  He also served as JCCC’s men’s basketball head coach for nine seasons (1982-91), compiling a 146-136 career record.  During his nine seasons, he coached one NJCAA All-American, four All-Region VI performers and 18 East Jayhawk All-Conference performers.

Norwood also has been extremely successful coaching Kansas A.A.U. boys teams.   He has led five teams to top five finishes nationally, including two national championships.  His team’s have also captured the Missouri Valley Championship in all but one season since 1989.

Norwood’s pedigree reads like a Who’s Who in basketball.  While at Wichita Heights High School, Norwood mentored Warren Nollins, Ron Tillis, Antoine Carr and Darnell Valentine.  Nollins was an all-state All-American who went to Howard University.  Tillis was an all-state pick who played at Norfork State.  Carr, an all-state selection at Heights and All-American at Wichita State University, went on to play 17 seasons in the NBA, and his jersey is retired at WSU.   Valentine was a two-time all-state selection and was a McDonald’s All-American.  He continued his career at Kansas, where he earned All-American in 1981, and was the first four-time All-Big Eight pick in team history.  He is KU’s all-time leader in steals and free throws, and is fifth in scoring.  In 1980, Valentine was a member of the U.S. Olympic team.  He recently had his jersey hung in the rafters of Allen Field House.

During his years at Heights, Norwood also produced such JCCC players as Amos Willingham, John Revel, Carnell Thurman and Bev Mitchell.   His JCCC star athletes include leading scorers Rick Williams, Malcolm Daniels, and Tony Harris, the only former Cavalier to see floor time in the NBA.

Norwood’s A.A.U. standout players include former Kansas All-American Wayne Simien, former Missouri great Kareem Rush, WSU standout Jamar Howard, Kansas guard Jeff Hawkins, Furman forward Nick Sanders, William Mary guard Nathan Man and Kansas forward Brandon Rush, currently one of the top players in the Big 12 and NCAA.

Norwood also coached Calvin Alexander and Ronaldo Snipes at Wichita Heights.  Both were ranked among the top 10 heavyweight boxing contenders in the world.

He and his wife, Betty, have been married 54 years and have three children:  Fayetta, 53; Corey, 42; and Seth, 39.