PHOENIX -- She's known to several Seahawks as the team mom. Angela Norton is the wife of linebackers coach Ken Norton Jr., and for years she has hosted the players on the team for dinners and holidays.
"Mrs. Norton. I love Mrs. Norton," linebacker K.J. Wright said. "She's definitely my second mom. She's from the south, just giving us that southern hospitality."
Ken Norton Jr. played 13 seasons in the pros and this is his 11 season as a coach.
"If you talk to any of my guys in college or in the pros, she's been very, very special to them," Ken said. "To have a strong marriage, you must involve the wife in the work. You can't have them separate. She has really stepped up to be a second mom to my players."
Angela said when Ken was a player and was forced to move when he changed teams, it was very tough on her. So, she is trying to ease transitions for the guys and also help them in times of need.
"I just want them to feel at home and know that my home is their home and they can come spend the holidays or come over any time," Angela said. "They seem tough on the outside, but really at heart, all of them have really good hearts and they're really sweet."
Norton said it has been hard for her to see Marshawn Lynch have a tough time with the press because she knows Marshawn to be a genuine, caring man. She said all of the guys on the Seahawks are good men. Outside linebacker Mike Morgan has known the Nortons for more than a decade.
"It was great to have that close-knit environment still," Morgan said. "It's been great to get to know a family and be a part of a family outside of my own. When I left home I was a little homesick and they brought me in just like family."
Angela said she loves having this extension of her immediate family.
"I kind of feel like some of them are like my sons," Angela said. "It's just a lot of fun having them over. I love it."
Ken is so grateful for his wife taking on this life with full force.
"Anytime I'm having to spend as much time away from home like I do, and I'm able to share my work with her, it doesn't make it as far," Ken said. "It's not just me in the Super Bowl. She's a part of it, I'm a part of it, we're all a part of it, and we've gotten to enjoy this journey together."
