Norman Stewart was born on January 20, 1935, in Shelby County, Missouri. He enrolled at the University of Missouri in 1952 and became a standout in both basketball and baseball for the Tigers. He was a two-time team captain and an all-Big Seven selection in basketball. On March 10, 1967, he was named head basketball coach at Mizzou. During his 32-year tenure, his teams posted 17 twenty-win seasons, won eight Big Eight Conference regular-season championships, six Big Eight Conference post-season tournament titles, and made 16 NCAA Tournament appearances, including two Elite Eights. Under his leadership, the Tigers also made five NIT post-season tournament appearances. He was named the 1982 UPI National Coach of the Year and, in 1994, Associated Press Coach of the Year. Stewart retired on April 1, 1999, with 634 Tiger victories, more than 60 percent of Missouri's wins, and an overall coaching record of 731-375 in 38 seasons. Following his own battle with cancer, he became recognized as the founder of Coaches vs. Cancer, the only charity of the NABC, and he and fellow coaches raised nearly $100 million in the program's first 20 years. He was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 1989, named a Missouri Sports Legend in 2000, and elected to the Naismith College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007.