Where Are They Now? H. Wayne Norman Jr., B.A. ’76, J.D. ’80

by Mary Medland

Category: Alumni

THEN: It all started in the early 1970s, when a former UB dean spotted H. Wayne Norman Jr., B.A. ’76, J.D. ’80, wearing his firehouse jacket in the campus bar, the UB Rathskeller. Once the dean learned his jacket wasn’t just for show—Norman was not only a firefighter but also had received EMT training and ridden with the local ambulance—he made Norman an offer.

UB’s basketball coach, the dean explained, needed someone to look after the players and to generally manage their locker room, which came equipped with a whirlpool, a few gurneys and plenty of miscellaneous athletic equipment. What’s more, the University wanted to recruit someone for a couple of hours a day to run an adjacent warm-up area as it morphed into a “health center.” The compensation for taking on both duties entailed a break in tuition and a small stipend.

Naturally, Norman grabbed the bait. “I was pretty much the first school ‘nurse,’ or the guy who would stop the bleeding until the ambulance arrived,” he says. He kept the position throughout his undergraduate career and through his first year of law school, adding that the University hired a “real” nurse eventually.

NOW: Norman went on to establish his own law practice in Bel Air, Maryland, and for the past seven years has served as a Republican member of the Maryland House of Delegates for District 35A (Harford County). Originally appointed by Gov. Martin O’Malley to fill a vacancy, Norman subsequently ran for election in 2010 and won.

That position, he says, is a true test of his persuasive skills. “As a lawyer, you only have to convince a jury of 12 people or a judge that your position is the right one,” he says. “In the House of Delegates, you have to convince a majority of 141 other individuals that you are right.

“But I love the challenges that come with this work.”

As for his years at UB? “I am very proud of my time there, ” he says. “It was well spent and my two degrees well earned. My UB education has always been a great asset.”