Eight times All-Ireland Senior Weightlifting Champion, Sean Norris was born in Dungarvan in 1928, to parents who came from the Comeraghs. He attended the Mercy Convent, the Christian Brothers and Abbeyside N.S. He worked with the Dungarvan Leader in 1942 and stayed there for seven years. Norris's interest in weightlifting began in 1949. In 1950 he won his first Irish Championships, and between 1951 and 1965 he won seven more titles.

He worked with the 'Cork Examiner' for three years as well as working with the 'Kerryman' and the 'Irish Press'. In 1960 he moved to England and worked there until 2000. He was the first Irishman to win a British weightlifting title. Among the people he trained with was Arnold Schwarzenegger who was a world bodybuilding champion at that time. Sean with his wife and two daughters returned to Ballinageeragh, Co. Waterford and still live there to this day.