By Vincent PAGE, intern

On Monday, Feb 1, Crescenta Valley High School and Pasadena High School’s varsity boys’ basketball teams played against each other in a matchup that ended as a PHS blowout. However, at halftime it was a four-point game, with both teams being evenly matched. This seemed fitting, as Mike Norseth, a former Falcon, was in attendance to present a Super Bowl 50 Golden Ball to the high school that got it all started for him. Norseth was on the Cincinnati Bengals’ roster when they played the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XXIII, losing 20-16 in a game that had two teams so evenly talented it took a Joe Montana game-winning drive to win it for the 49ers in the end.

Norseth attended CVHS and graduated in 1982, the same year he won the Outstanding Male Athlete award, playing football, basketball, and baseball. After high school, he played quarterback for Snow College in Utah for two years until he was invited to play for the Kansas Jayhawks where he started for two more years. He would eventually be drafted by the Cleveland Browns, but after his rookie year he took his talents to the Bengals, where he was the backup quarterback for two years, going to his only Super Bowl in 1989. He finished his playing career in New York playing for the Jets in 1992.

Norseth is now the owner and president of Brock Insurance Group in Sandy, Utah. Immediately after his NFL career ended, he began working in insurance. His current company was started in 2007 and named after his son. He also has a daughter, named Chloe.

A big part of Norseth’s life to this day is the Boomer Esiason Foundation, which fights cystic fibrosis. Norseth backed up Esiason during his time with the Bengals, and is so involved in this organization because Esiason’s son Gunnar is affected by the disease. Norseth has raised over one million dollars himself, hoping to find a cure for this disease that hurts so many.

  Vincent PAGE