How Josh Norman’s homecoming spread Christmas cheer to many children

Josh Norman likes to use the persona of “Dark Knight” while on the football field.

On Monday night, he took on a different nickname: Santa.

The former Coastal Carolina standout and current Washington Redskins cornerback returned to his hometown of Greenwood on Monday night to play Santa and hand out gifts to children at Morris Chapel Baptist Church, according to the Greenwood Index-Journal.

“This is something that God put in my life to go forward with,” Norman told the Index-Journal. “It was like a little acorn, like a little seed at that time … To turn into something the magnitude of this? That’s nothing but him, and it speaks on how he has blessed me through the years.”

Norman put on the open-to-the-public event through his outreach group, Starz24, the Index-Journal reported. The event drew a line around the church and parking lot as the church was filled to capacity, the newspaper reported.

This story was originally published December 19, 2017 at 5:31 PM with the headline "How Josh Norman’s homecoming spread Christmas cheer to many children."