Kokomo High School (merged with Haworth High School in 1984) is a four-year public high school in Kokomo,

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

, USA. The school is the only high school in the Kokomo School Corporation.

History

The earliest Kokomo High School found in records was in existence from about 1872 to 1916. The construction of the original Kokomo High School started in 1870 on the corner of Armstrong and Taylor with the first class commencing in 1872 according to a newspaper of that time. In 1898 the original high school burned down and a second building was built on the corner of Market and Sycamore. In 1914 the high school was again destroyed by fire. The third campus of Kokomo High School, first known as Howard County's Central School Building, was dedicated on October 19, 1917. Located at 303 East Superior Street, this building now houses Central Middle International School. Old Kokomo High School

The current campus of Kokomo High School was built in 1968 Previously, the downtown campus was known as Kokomo High School and the south campus was named Haworth High School. However, in 1983 the Kokomo-Center Township Board of Trustees decided that two high schools were no longer necessary. Consequently, in 1984 Haworth High School was closed and the former Haworth students began attending Kokomo High School. After the reorganization, Kokomo High School was split into two campuses. The downtown campus had 8th and 9th grade students, and the south campus (the former Haworth High School) had 10th, 11th, and 12th graders. After the south campus was expanded, the south campus became the primary location and served 9th to 12th grade students. The downtown campus later became Central Middle School in 1998. Kokomo High School still has visible reminders of the building's history, including a framed portrait of C.V. Haworth and a case featuring Haworth's mascot, the Haworth Huskies. The C.V. Haworth award is also given to Seniors who show "exceptional ability in writing and speaking". The C.V. Haworth Memorial Scholarship Fund is available to capable seniors from Kokomo High School who are entering a bachelor's degree program at Indiana University at either the Kokomo or Bloomington campuses.

Extracurricular Activities

Arts

Kokomo High School is host to a variety of visual and performing arts programs. Within the school are ceramic, drawing, painting and multimedia studios. Students' works are displayed in the Student Gallery. Seniors submit art for the annual senior art show in May. Performing arts are enjoyed in diverse student activities. Kokomo High School hosts six choirs: Chorale, Karisma, Choraliers, Vocal Jazz, Chamber, and Advanced Chamber. Summer Marching Band serves as the school's most popular extracurricular activity, placing second at Indiana's State Fair Band Day in 2019. Summer Color Guard and Winter Guard are similarly popular. Extracurricular music activities include Jazz Band, Winter Wind Ensemble, and Indoor Percussion. Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced Concert Band, Wind Ensemble, Percussion, Music Theory, and Elementary and Advanced Orchestra comprise the school's music classes.

Athletics

Kokomo High School offers more than 20 sports under the

Indiana High School Athletic Association The Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) is the arbiter of interscholastic competition among public and private high schools in the U.S. state of Indiana. It monitors a system that divides athletically-competing high schools in Indiana ...

. It is a member of the

North Central Conference The North Central Conference (NCC), also known as North Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, was a college athletic conference which operated in the north central United States. It participated in the NCAA's Division II. History The NCC ...

. Boys' teams compete under the name Wildkats; girls' team compete as Lady Kats. Fall sports offered by the school include boys' and girls' cross country, boys' and girls' soccer, boys'

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

, girls'

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

, boys' football, and girls'

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

. Winter sports include boys' and girls'

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

, boys' and girls'

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

and

diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), a ...

, and co-educational

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

. Spring sports include boys' golf, girls' tennis, boys'

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

, girls'

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

, boys' and girls'

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

, and unified track and field.

Cheerleading Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense physical activity. It can be performed to motivate sports teams, to ente ...

and

competitive dance Competitive dance is a popular, widespread sport in which competitors perform dances in any of several permitted dance styles—such as acro, ballet, contemporary, jazz, hip-hop, lyrical, modern, musical theatre, tap, and improv—before a ...

are available as non-IHSAA club sports. In 2017, Kokomo High School's football team was the state runner-up in IHSAA Class 5A. The competitive dance team also advanced to state finals for the 2017–2018 school year.

Notable alumni

Cliff Barker Clifford "Cliff" Eugene Barker (January 15, 1921 – March 17, 1998) was a basketball player from the United States, who won the gold medal with the USA national basketball team at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom and two natio ...

, 1948 Olympic gold medalist (basketball) *

Rupert Boneham Rupert Frederick Boneham (; born January 27, 1964) is an American mentor for troubled teens, who became known to reality television audiences in 2003 as a contestant on '' Survivor: Pearl Islands'' where he placed eighth. He later appeared on the ...

, competitor on reality TV show '' Survivor'', graduated from Haworth High School (not Kokomo High School alumnus) *

Norman Bridwell Norman Ray Bridwell (February 15, 1928 – December 12, 2014) was an American author and cartoonist best known for the ''Clifford the Big Red Dog'' book series. Early life Bridwell was born on February 15, 1928, in Kokomo, Indiana, to Leona and ...

, author of

Clifford the Big Red Dog ''Clifford the Big Red Dog'' is an American children's book series about the adventures of a precocious girl named Emily Elizabeth and her titular pet: a giant, red-furred dog named Clifford. It was first published in 1963 and was written by N ...

Steve Kroft Stephen F. Kroft (born August 22, 1945) is an American retired journalist, best known as a long-time correspondent for ''60 Minutes''. Kroft's investigative reporting garnered widespread acclaim, winning him three Peabody Awards and nine Emmy a ...

, television journalist, correspondent for '' 60 Minutes'', attended Kokomo High School * Jim "Goose" Ligon, basketball player * Jimmy Rayl, Indiana high school Mr. Basketball, Trester Award winner,

Indiana Hoosiers The Indiana Hoosiers are the intercollegiate sports teams and players of Indiana University Bloomington, named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Indiana. The Hoosiers participate in Division I of the National Collegiate Ath ...

record holder and collegiate All-American, played for Indiana Pacers *

LeRoy Samse LeRoy Perry Samse (September 13, 1883 – May 1, 1956) was an American Athletics (sport), athlete who competed mainly in the pole vault. Samse represented the United States in the 1904 Summer Olympics held in St Louis, United States in t ...

, Olympic pole vaulter and former world record holder. * Nolan Sanburn, professional baseball player *

Joe Thatcher Joseph Andrew Thatcher (born October 4, 1981) is an American college baseball coach and former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Diego Padres, Arizona Diamondbacks, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim an ...

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

for

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...

, formerly of Houston Astros,

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team h ...

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks (colloquially known as the D-backs) are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The ...

and

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penn ...

* Edward Trobaugh,

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of ...

Pat Underwood Patrick John Underwood (born February 9, 1957) is a retired Major League Baseball pitcher who played from to . Underwood was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the first round of the 1976 Major League Baseball Draft, as the second pick overall.

, high school All-American baseball player, taken #2 in Major League Baseball draft in 1976 by Detroit Tigers *

Tom Underwood Thomas Gerald Underwood (December 22, 1953 – November 22, 2010) was an American Major League Baseball pitcher. His younger brother, Pat was also a pitcher, and made his major league debut against Tom. It was the first time in major league histo ...

, Major League Baseball pitcher for multiple teams including Philadelphia Phillies,

Oakland A's The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

, and

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

. * Brandon Wood, professional basketball player *

Don Pardee Moon Don Pardee Moon (April 18, 1894 – August 5, 1944) was a rear admiral of the United States Navy, who fought in the invasion of Europe. He was born in Kokomo, Indiana, United States. He married and had four children. Biography Moon entered t ...

, Rear Admiral in

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

at Normandy's

Utah Beach Utah, commonly known as Utah Beach, was the code name for one of the five sectors of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings on June 6, 1944 (D-Day), during World War II. The westernmost of the five code-named la ...

in 1944

References

External links

Kokomo High School

TechnoKats Robotics Team

kokomohighschoolsports.com

high-schools.com {{authority control Public high schools in Indiana Educational institutions established in 1872 Schools in Howard County, Indiana 1872 establishments in Indiana