Norvel L. R. Lee (September 22, 1924 – August 19, 1992) was an amateur boxer, Tuskegee Airman, WWII veteran, scholar, educator, field grade officer in the US Army Reserve, and youth mentor in the greater Washington D.C. area.

He won the light heavyweight gold medal in boxing at the Helsinki Olympic Games in 1952 and was also awarded the Val Barker Trophy.

On September 17, 2022, the Commonwealth of Virginia unveiled a historical marker honoring Lee's accomplishments.

In 1964 he was invited to Gambia and Mali in Africa as a goodwill ambassador to teach boxing for two months in summer training programs.

In 1948, while returning from the 1948 Olympics to his hometown of Eagle Rock, he was arrested for violating the Jim Crow laws and refusing to move from his seat in the white-only section of a passenger train car; the NAACP posted his bail.

His professional career began as a teacher and a counselor for the Department of Justice, Bureau of Prisons, and expanded to various administrative and managerial positions, including Director of Education for the D.C.

Youth Center, D.C. Department of Corrections; Director of Training, D.C. Department of Public Welfare - Title V Training Program; Deputy Project Director, The Institute of Computer Technology; Director of Counseling Education, The Federal City College; Coordinator of Adult and Community Education, Baltimore City Department of Education where he served as Chairman of the Mayor's Manpower Advisory Council, Assistant Superintendent of Personnel, Assistant Superintendent of Adult and Community Education, and Coordinator; Manpower Skills Center.

On August 19, 1992, he died from pancreatic cancer at the Bethesda Naval Medical Center in Maryland surrounded by his two daughters, four grandchildren, and a host of friends and family.

On September 17, 2022, a historical marker was unveiled along the highway near Lee’s childhood home recognizing his contributions as a military officer, civil rights pioneer, boxer, and educator.