I. C. Norcom High School is a public high school located at 1801 London Boulevard in Portsmouth, Virginia, and administered by Portsmouth City Public Schools. The school colors are maroon and grey and greyhounds are the school mascot. A historical marker commemorates his history. It was formerly known as Chestnut Street School, and High Street School.
Contents
History
I. C. Norcom High School was founded as Chestnut Street School and it opened in 1878, for Black elementary and high school students. In 1913, the name was changed to High Street School for a few years. The I. C. Norcom High School name was changed again, and it was named after Israel Charles Norcom (1856–1916), an African American educator, and its first supervising principal. Other schools named for Norcom have been in various locations.
The current school building opened September 1997 under the leadership of Walter Taylor. The first graduating class of the new location was the class of 1998, but the first graduating class that attended four years at this school was the class of 2002.
Athletics
Norcom's football team won the 1993 state championship, defeating Langley High School 19-0. Norcom's boys basketball team won the 2010 and 2011 VSHL State Championship in Division AAA. The Greyhounds won four straight championships from 2014 to 2017, the first two in division 4A, the others in Division 3A.
Extracurriculars
I. C. Norcom has a well-decorated NJROTC unit. They came in first place in the 2013 Fishbowl parade. They earned top spots in many current competitions and events.
Notable alumni
E. J. Josey (1940), African-American activist
James W. Holley III (1944), former mayor of Portsmouth, Virginia
Ruth Brown (1945), singer known as the Queen of R&B
Junius Kellogg (1946), basketball player
L. Louise Lucas, state legislator
George Moody (1955), college football coach
Alonzo Short (1957), former director of the Defense Information Systems Agency
Linda B. Hayden (1967), mathematician
George Evans (1997), basketball player
Julius Gregory (2006), football player
Vernon Macklin (2006 and transferred), NBA player
Melvin Gregg (2009), actor
Darius Theus (2009), basketball player
Dorian Finney-Smith (2011), NBA player
Joe Powell (2012), football player
Travis Fields Jr. (2016), basketball player
Karon Prunty (2020), football player