Harrisonburg High School (HHS), part of the Harrisonburg City School System, is a public high school located in Harrisonburg, Virginia, United States. HHS serves grades nine through twelve, and its athletic teams are known as the Blue Streaks. In October 2017, 1782 students were enrolled. It was rated "Fully Accredited" by the Virginia Department of Education for the 2017–2018 school year.

History

Harrisonburg High School was founded in 1879 and was initially located on South Main Street. In 1928, it was moved to South High Street; in 1967, the high school was moved to Grace Street. During this time it housed students from grades seven upward, but when Thomas Harrison Middle School was built in 1989, grades seven and eight were shifted from the high school department, and the high school expanded to include both South High Street and Grace Street complexes. The complex was used to hold wrestling shows for

Jim Cornette James Mark "Jim" Cornette (born September 17, 1961) is an American author and podcaster who has previously worked in the professional wrestling industry as an agent, booker, color commentator, manager, promoter, trainer, and occasional prof ...

and his

Smokey Mountain Wrestling Smoky Mountain Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion that held events in the Appalachian area of the United States from October 1991 to December 1995, when it was run by Jim Cornette. The promotion was based in Knoxville, Tennessee, wit ...

promotion until its closure in 1995. The entire complex renovated in 1994, on its hundredth anniversary, but was subsequently leased and later sold to

James Madison University James Madison University (JMU, Madison, or James Madison) is a public research university in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Founded in 1908 as the State Normal and Industrial School for Women at Harrisonburg, the institution was renamed Madison Coll ...

, after the construction and opening of a new building on Garbers Church Road on August 24, 2005. The HHS school board has agreed to move to One Court Square in Harrisonburg; its plans were endorsed by the Harrisonburg City Council on February 8, 2011. In August 2019, the Harrisonburg City Council announced the plan to build a second high school in Harrisonburg in order to alleviate overcrowding in HHS.

VHSL titles

Harrisonburg is in the Group AA

Valley District The Valley District was an organization of the Confederate States Army and subsection of the Department of Northern Virginia during the American Civil War, responsible for operations between the Blue Ridge Mountains and Allegheny Mountains of Vir ...

of the

Virginia High School League The Virginia High School League (VHSL) is the principal sanctioning organization for interscholastic athletic competition among public high schools in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The VHSL first sponsored debate and also continues to sponsor sta ...

. Prior to 2007, it had been in Region II, but is now in Region V. *1969 – 1976 State AA Boys Tennis Champions *1978, 1979 State AA Boys Basketball Champions *1979 State AA Girls Outdoor Track Champions *1980 – 1982 State AA Girls Tennis Champions *1991 State AA Boys Tennis Champions *1991 State AA Girls Tennis Champions *1987, 1989, 1993 State AA Creative Writing *1994 State AA Girls Outdoor Track Champions (tied with Abingdon) *1996 State AA Boys Golf Champions *2001 State AA Division 3 Football Champions *2007 State AA Boys Outdoor Track Champions *2007–08 State AA Theatre Champions *2011–2012 State AA Debate Champions

Notable alumni

* Henry G. Blosser (1928–2013), Nuclear physicist and winner of the

Tom W. Bonner Prize in Nuclear Physics The Tom W. Bonner Prize in Nuclear Physics is an annual prize awarded by the American Physical Society's Division of Nuclear Physics. Established in 1964, and currently consisting of $10,000 and a certificate, the Bonner Prize was founded in memor ...

* Akeem Jordan – Former NFL football player *

John Otho Marsh Jr. John Otho Marsh Jr. (August 7, 1926 – February 4, 2019) was an American politician and an adjunct professor at George Mason University School of Law. Early life Marsh was born in Winchester, Virginia, Winchester, Virginia. He graduated from ...

– Career U.S. Army officer (1944–1976), U.S. Representative from the State of Virginia (1963–1971), and as the Secretary of the Army under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush (1981–1989) * Bill Mims – Current Justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia, former Virginia Attorney General *

Ralph Sampson Ralph Lee Sampson Jr. (born July 7, 1960) is an American former professional basketball player. He is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. A phenom, three-time college national player of the year, and first overall selec ...

– Former NBA basketball player * Howard Stevens – Former NFL football player * Kristi Toliver – Current WNBA basketball player *

Landon Turner Landon Turner (born May 15, 1993) is an American football Guard (gridiron football), guard who is currently a free agent. He played college football at North Carolina Tar Heels football, North Carolina. His uncle Jim Braxton played professional ...

– Current NFL football player * John Wade – Retired NFL football player

References

External links

* {{authority control Schools in Harrisonburg, Virginia Public high schools in Virginia Educational institutions established in 1879 1879 establishments in Virginia