inducted 27th September 2008
Wayne Persinger has been inducted into the Norwich Devils Hall of Fame for his services to the club as both a coach and a member of the management team.
He was the club’s first head coach through from their formation in 1984 to their first season in the national league in 1986. Wayne took a group of players who had never played the game and achieved a 5 – 5 record in their first competitive season, quite an achievement for an inexperienced first year team.
He stepped down as head coach at the end of that first season but continued to help manage the club. In 1990 he returned as head coach and led the team through a very difficult season with a depleted squad following the club’s championship winning season in 1989.
Wayne’s biggest contribution however, was probably in the formation and running of the management of the club. He was instrumental in setting up the management structure that was to serve the club well ever since, and probably the main reason the club is still in existence today when most others of that era have fallen by the wayside. He is justifiably recognised as the founder of the Norwich Devils.
Wayne’s contribution to American football in this country is not confined to the Norwich Devils, he has also been very active at league level, and played a major role in bringing the fragmented leagues of the 1990s finally under one banner.