[1] Nicknamed "Red", Norton played high school baseball and basketball at Jamaica High School in Queens,[2] and played college basketball under coach Clair Bee at Long Island University (LIU).

[5] Prior to taking the job at Manhattan, Norton spent four seasons as the head coach at the La Salle Military Academy in Oakdale, New York.

[4] Norton coached Manhattan to a 300–205 record, winning six conference championships and leading the team to eleven postseason appearances, including two Division I National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and six National Invitation Tournament (NIT) tourneys.

In the early 1950s Norton guided one of his players, Junius Kellogg, in initiating and assisting an investigation that led to the uncovering of substantial point shaving activity that was taking place in college basketball at the time.

[8] Kellogg had been approached by former Manhattan players Hank Poppe and Jack Byrnes to fix games.