Merrill Norris
Merrill Norris's Story
I grew up in Indianola, Iowa as a middle child of a family of 7. For much of my childhood my next-door neighbor and one of my best friends was Les Gatrel, the driving reason for starting Wrestling MS. We wrestled together through High School and college, and like Les, found some success which led to me attending and wrestling for the University of Central Missouri. I graduated from UCM with a degree in Electrical Engineering Technology, began my professional career at McDonnel Douglas in St. Louis, Missouri as test engineer in their aerospace division. After 6 years, I accepted a position at Hewlett Packard and spent the majority of the next 35 years serving various Executive positions, retiring as the North American Director of our custom services business. I currently serve as the Fund-Raising Chair for Wrestling MS. Though I initially got involved in Wrestling MS because of a desire to help a good friend, I remain engaged, and completely amazed, by the drive, determination, and successes that we have experienced with our Wrestling MS Champions.