From Maroon & Gold to a Scarlet Red Beret : Chief Master Sergeant Wayne Norrad ’ 65
asked me . ‘ I stayed home ,’ I told him . I have never forgotten what Coach said , ‘ We ’ re a team . This isn ’ t all about you . When you sign up for something , you stick with it .’”
But learning this lesson wasn ’ t easy for Norrad . In his sophomore year , he was pitching and playing shortstop for Thornton Academy . He had already earned a sweater and a letter , but Norrad described how things then went awry , “ Mrs . Angenetti was a young English teacher . She was a great teacher . I liked her . The class next to us was acting up . Somebody slid a note under the door . She told me to grab it , write something on it and slide it back , so she could burst into the room and catch the culprit . As she went through the door , I , being the class clown , was urged on by classmates to lock her out . I tried , but her hand was still wedged in the door . I pressed on it and accidentally hurt her hand . I was called to the office and Mr . Griffith wanted to expel me from English class for the rest of the year . The teacher realized that it was an accident and agreed to let me back in class after a one-week suspension . My second punishment devastated me . They would not allow me to stay on Coach Phil Curtis ’ baseball team . I did manage to get a good grade on my final exam and was able to move on to my junior year and was not held back .”
From Maroon & Gold to a Scarlet Red Beret : Chief Master Sergeant Wayne Norrad ’ 65
Wayne Norrad ’ 65 jumped out of perfectly good airplanes for more than 20 years , once at an altitude of 30,000 feet while wearing an oxygen mask , a parachute , and the full complement of Special Operations paratrooper gear . Although he walks with a limp now , this retired Chief Master Sergeant is writing articles for the Air Commando Journal on the history of Air Force Special Tactics and reflecting on how he learned not to quit on himself .
Norrad faced continued challenges . The summer before his senior year , he decided to try out for the football team . He worked out , lifted weights , and tried out . His sports physical identified a hernia and disqualified him from play ; there would be no football . By that time , his parents had divorced and his mother was remarrying . Norrad didn ’ t want to live at home and since his sister , Pam Norrad Sparks ’ 64 , was married and lived in Scarborough , he decided to move there and finish school .
Norrad described how he turned to the military to start a new life , “ In February of ’ 66 with the Vietnam War going strong , it was just a matter of time before I got drafted . Rather than wait , one of my baseball team friends , Jerry Bickford , from Buxton , and I joined the Air Force on the ‘ buddy plan .’ We flew to San Antonio for basic training .
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As a student , Norrad experienced ample opportunities to quit : he received poor grades in high school mostly for missing classes , was suspended for a week , lost the privilege to play on the Maroon & Gold baseball team , and left his Saco home during his senior year to live in Scarborough . So how did his rough start turn into a successful career ?
Chief Master Sergeant Norrad shared with me how mentorship and friendship with Thornton classmates and military colleagues helped him find a successful career path of wearing the signature red beret of combat controllers , “ I played baseball in Buxton on a Babe Ruth team from 13 to 15 years-old . Kibbey Porter was my coach and he became a father figure to me . I was a pretty good player . We had a great season and made it to a three game playoff to become area champions . I was the youngest of the pitchers and it was my first year . I knew I would not start as pitcher , so I stayed home . ‘ Where were you today ?’ Coach
Wayne Norrad ’ s last jump was in 1996 ( shown here and at right ) when he jumped with a parachute demo team into Foxboro Stadium during a Patriots game . Between 1996 and 2002 this parachute demo team helped attract recruits to combat control and pararescue .