He was educated in a one-room schoolhouse; his favourite subject was physics and he became a radio amateur. He graduated in electrical engineering from the University of Nebraska in 1932 at the height of the Great Depression. Following the death of his father, he worked on the family farm for two years before landing a job with Westinghouse, where he marketed scientific equipment.During the Second World War, Norris obtained a commission in the US Navy and was assigned to the Communications Supplementary Activity – Washington (CSAW), America’s famed code-breaking operation There he worked on communications and computing machinery. At the end of the war, in 1946, he joined colleagues in founding Engineering Research Associates (ERA) in St Paul, Minnesota, to undertake defence contracts for the navy.By the early 1950s, ERA was also designing computers for the commercial marketplace, and the need for additional capital resulted in the firm selling out to Remington Rand, which merged it into its Univac computer division. During the 1960s CDC, which made the biggest and fastest computers in the world, was one of only a handful of firms that competed successfully with the computer-giant IBM, which dominated the world market for computers. In the late 1970s, however, Norris set in train a series of ill-conceived diversifications, some of which were socially motivated; CDC lost its direction, and ultimately went into a long decline.
William Charles Norris was born in Red Cloud, Nebraska, in 1911 and grew up on his parents’ farm. Although he retired as early as 1951 he played his last game of cricket in 1990..
William Charles Norris, businessman and social entrepreneur: born Red Cloud, Nebraska 14 July 1911; product marketer, Westinghouse 1934-41; vice-president, Engineering Research Associates 1946-51; staff, Univac Computers 1951-57; chief executive officer, Control Data Corporation 1957-86; married 1944 Jane Malley (six sons, two daughters); died Bloomington, Minnesota 21 August 2006
In 1957 William C. Norris established the Control Data Corporation (CDC) to manufacture mainframe computers. He averaged 30 in his 11 Test matches, 18 centuries at an average of 40.44 in his first-class career. John Arlott wrote:They had expected to play three four-day Tests; but eventually it was decided, for financial reasons, that they would play four of three days each. There, and at Wellington, where England won by six wickets, the grounds were full, E.W. Swanton remarking that “the quietness after the behaviour in Australia remains a memory to this day” before pointing out that Hadlee had committed a grievous error:[Alex] Moir bowled the last over before tea from one end and Hadlee unwittingly put him on first at the other end afterwards.Swanton often referred to Hadlee as “an old friend”, even if New Zealand’s mealtimes could be a dashed nuisance:Apart from the inconvenience – even the impossibility sometimes after a day’s cricket – of having to dine at six-thirty sharp I greatly enjoyed New Zealand.In the following decade Hadlee managed New Zealand teams and when Kerry Packer launched his rival World Series cricket in 1977 Hadlee was a forceful opponent as New Zealand’s president He was appointed OBE in 1950 and advanced CBE in 1978.
He was an expert placer of his field, his judgement of a tactical situation was sound and his wise handling of his team, allied to his own splendid fielding, made him a captain to be remembered.Two years later Freddie Brown’s England team, after a hectic 20-week tour of Australia, had a chance for revenge in New Zealand, Hadlee scoring 116 in a draw at Christchurch. Rex Alston commented:No touring side has had a more unselfish, conscientious or thoughtful captain. The bowling was much weaker, so Hadlee contrived to contain England’s big-name batsmen – Len Hutton, Cyril Washbrook, Bill Edrich, Denis Compton – by insisting on strict length and line, backed by relentless fielding Hutton thought Hadlee’s fields the hardest to penetrate. That shrewd captain Walter Hadlee, smiling grimly, observed: “Well, that means we can draw all four.” And they did.This despite losing the toss in the first three Tests.Hadlee contributed 1,439 runs and had some powerful batting lieutenants in the world-class left-handers Bert Sutcliffe and Martin Donnelly, the aptly named Verdun Scott and the superb all-rounder John Reid. He reminded New Zealand’s selectors with 198 for Otago against the visiting Australians in Dunedin in 1946.His hour came when he led New Zealand in their first-post-war tour of England, at a time when some critics felt that to give the Kiwis four three-day Tests was overtaxing their resources.
