Norb, from a family of 14 children, started his football career at Chaminade but he transferred to Stivers his last three years. He played signal caller and center, playing both offense and defense his three years at Stivers.
His senior year, he was captain of the team and was selected second team All-City. Because Stivers had no baseball program, he played semi-pro most of his young life. In 1955 he was inducted into the Dayton Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame.
During high school, Norb worked at Kroger every day after school and all day Saturday, except during football season. He made $7.50/ week and paid his parents $5.00/week board. After graduation he worked with his father in the construction business and eventually had his own business – N.H. Zimmerman Construction.
In his early 30’s Norm developed a passion and a knack for golf. He won the Club Championship at Walnut Grove Country Club for two years running – 1953 and 1954. He won the senior golf tournament sponsored by Golf Week Magazine. He also placed 2nd in a tournament at the Royal Tee Country Club in Cape Coral, FL. He is still golfing – shooting his age or better at least 250 times and has had two-holes-in one.
Norb met his wife, Mary Alice, in art class at Stivers. They had four children: three sons and one daughter. Norb retired from the construction business in 1981. He had been appointed to the Architectural Board of Review of the City of Kettering. Mary Alice passed away in 1989 and Norb remarried Jean Ann Tingle, a Dayton friend, who lived in Winlock, WA where they now reside. They have a combined family that includes eight grandchildren and twelve great-grandchildren.
