Sentimental Journey : Ken Norton Is Headed for Atlanta, Even Though He Hasn’t Reconciled With His Son

Ken Norton knows it sounds crazy. He knows most will consider this a mad journey by a former heavyweight champion feeling the effects of too many punches.

But he figures one group of people will understand.

“Fathers, they’ll know,” he said softly. “When it comes to your children, sometimes you do things on instinct.”

Norton, father of Dallas Cowboy linebacker Ken Norton Jr., will be flying from Orange County to Atlanta today for the Super Bowl between the Cowboys and Buffalo Bills.

He has not seen or spoken to Norton Jr. for nearly two years because of a family dispute.

He does not have tickets to the game.

He does not have hotel reservations.

But he’s coming anyway. And he’s bringing two of his other children, 10-year-old son Kene Jon and 17-year-old daughter Kenesha.

The senior Norton says he’s doing it for them, innocent victims of a feud they never wanted.

But friends wonder, who is he kidding?

They say he is really coming for himself, hoping to end this battle of pride and restore a bond between him and his son.

“Last year, when he didn’t go to the Super Bowl, even though it was right up the road (in Pasadena), Ken watched the game in tears,” said family friend Brenda Mason. “This year, he wants his son to know that, even if Kenny Jr. never wants to talk to him again, he still loves and supports him.”

When a reporter told Norton Jr. of his father’s plans Thursday, the sharp look on his face disappeared. His eyes brightened. He smiled.

“Really? You heard that?” he said. “No kidding?”

He paused.

“Well, I can’t say anything until it actually happens. I can’t know that it will happen until it happens.”

When asked if he would see his father after the game, the smile faded.

“I don’t know,” he said. “There is still a lot of bitterness there.”

Their argument, first chronicled here before last year’s Super Bowl, revolves around Norton Jr.’s wife, Angela.

Norton Jr. has told friends that his father opposed their 1992 marriage because Angela is white.

Norton Sr. said this week that he was upset only because the couple had not signed a prenuptial agreement.

“Kenny tells everybody it’s a racial thing, but I have dated plenty of Caucasian women in my life--I almost married a couple of them,” Norton Sr. said. “What worried me is that they did not sign an agreement before the marriage, just to make sure they were protected if it didn’t stick. It’s just one of those instinct things again.”

Said Norton Jr.: “A prenuptial agreement has nothing to do with it. I won’t comment on anything else.”

When news of their split broke last January, it was the beginning of the wildest year of Norton Jr.’s life.

Despite distractions caused by the story, he played one of the best games of his career in the Cowboys’ 52-17 Super Bowl victory over the Bills.

Besides recording a team-leading 10 tackles, he recovered a fumble and ran nine yards for his first touchdown. He also made the game-altering stop of Kenneth Davis at the Cowboy one-yard line on third down, the Cowboys leading, 14-7.

This season, despite suffering a torn right biceps in the seventh game, he led the team with a career-high 159 tackles and was voted to the Pro Bowl for the first time.

He also has his own Dallas TV and radio shows, and he figures to get considerably richer this spring after shopping himself as an unrestricted free agent.

The only thing missing has been his father.

“It’s been a battle between two terribly proud men,” Mason said, “a silly battle that has gone on long enough.”

The men obviously still love each other, as much as they did when Norton raised his first son by himself 20 years ago.

Norton Jr. wears a black cowboy hat to many public appearances. It was the kind of hat his father used to wear so the young son watching on TV could pick him out of a crowd.

“When I was young, I used to follow the moving hat,” Norton Jr. said wistfully.

Norton Jr. also credits his father with giving him the strength to endure three months with a biceps injury that will require surgery.

“I’m not going to deny that I learned a whole lot from my father,” Norton Jr. said. “I grew up watching him struggle, watching him sacrifice . . . getting up every morning and seeing him run.

“When it was time for me to do that, it was something I already knew how to do.”

Norton Sr. still follows his son’s life closely, if only from his Laguna Niguel living room.

Common acquaintances will phone Norton and tell him of his son’s activities. He watched every available Cowboy game on TV this year.

And he firmly believes in his son’s team.

“I don’t see how they can lose to the Bills,” he said. “It will be like the junior varsity playing the varsity.”

But the fight is tearing him and his family apart.

They have seen counselors. They have seen ministers. Even the ministers of their church and Norton Jr.’s church in the Dallas area have talked.

Kene Jon and Kenesha used to speak to Ken Jr. on a special telephone that was installed so Ken Jr. would not have to speak to his father.

But according to the family, even the children don’t receive calls anymore.

It was therefore a cause for celebration at Christmas when Ken Jr. sent them an autographed helmet and team jacket as presents.

“When that happened, the family had hope again,” Mason said.

It is that notion of family, Norton said, that he is trying to revive with this weekend visit.

“People can be against me, that’s fine, but I want all my children to be together,” he said. “I want them to have that bond back.”

He wants it badly enough to crash the biggest sports event in the country with two children and a heart full of hopes.

“How much will I pay for tickets?” Norton said. “I don’t know, $500? Whatever it takes, man.”