Marion High School Alumni

Marion, Virginia (VA)

Military Alumni

Military High School Alumni

Honoring Our Heroes

This area is dedicated to our alumni that have served or are serving in our armed forces!

School & Community News

The Marion Mets Legacy

The Marion Mets
(MLB legacy)

The Marion Mets

The Marion Mets were a minor league baseball team based in Marion, Virginia that played in the Appalachian League from 1965 to 1976. They were affiliated with the New York Mets and played their home games at the Marion High School baseball field.

Marion Senior High School is a public high school located in Marion, Virginia. It is part of the Smyth County Public Schools and its athletics compete in the AA Southwest District in Region IV.

Marion Mets and Nolan Ryan
New York Mets (1966, 1968–1971)
Ryan was drafted by the New York Mets in the 12th round of the 1965 Major League Baseball draft Ryan was assigned to a minor league team in the Appalachian League called the Marion Mets in Marion, Virginia
When Ryan was called up to the New York club the following year, he was the second-youngest player in the league. His first strikeout was Pat Jarvis, and he gave up his first major league home run to Joe Torre, a future NL MVP and Hall of Fame big-league manager
Nolan Ryan

Lynn Nolan Ryan, Jr. nicknamed The Ryan Express, is a former Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher and a previous chief executive officer (CEO) of the Texas Rangers. He is currently an executive adviser to the owner of the Houston Astros.
During a major league record 27-year baseball career (1966, 1968–1993), Ryan pitched for four different teams: the New York Mets, California Angels, Houston Astros, and Texas Rangers. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999.
Ryan, a hard-throwing, right-handed pitcher, threw pitches that were regularly recorded above 100 miles per hour (161 km/h). The high velocity remained throughout his career, even into his 40s. Ryan was also known to throw a devastating 12–6 curveball at exceptional velocity for a breaking ball.
While his lifetime winning percentage was .526, Ryan was an eight-time MLB All-Star, and his 5,714 career strikeouts rank first in baseball history by a significant margin. He leads the runner-up, Randy Johnson, by 839 strikeouts.
Similarly, Ryan's 2,795 bases on balls lead second-place Steve Carlton by 962—walking over 50% more hitters than any other pitcher in MLB history. Ryan, Pedro Martínez, Randy Johnson, and Sandy Koufax are the only four pitchers inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame who had more strikeouts than innings pitched.
Besides Jackie Robinson (whose number was retired by the entire MLB), and Frank Robinson (3 teams), Ryan is the only other major league baseball player to have his number retired by at least three different teams: the Angels, Astros, and Rangers.
Ryan is the all-time leader in no-hitters with seven, three more than any other pitcher. He is tied with Bob Feller for the most one-hitters, with 12. Ryan also pitched 18 two-hitters. Despite the seven no-hitters, he never threw a perfect game, nor did he ever win a Cy Young Award. Ryan is one of only 29 players in baseball history to have appeared in Major League baseball games in four decades and the only pitcher to have struck out seven pairs of fathers and sons.

posted June 20th, 2017

Hidden Figures of Marion Virginia

"Hidden Figures"

Little facts for us who lived and went to school in Marion didn't know that we were proceeded by such a historical, intelligent and courageous woman and Mathematician, "Katherine Johnson".

Katherine was the central figure in the movie "Hidden Figures"

Katherine is one of the 3 American women who put the NASA space program on the map as Number One. Astronaut and Senator John Glen sang their praises.

It is no wonder why the women of Marion are so intelligent to have been mentored by the spirit of such a great American. God bless you Katherine for the heritage we all share in Marion Virginia.

MARION, Va. — The first mention of Marion comes on page 23 of the New York Times bestselling book “Hidden Figures.” The statement is simple: Twenty-four-year-old Katherine lived in Marion, Virginia, a speck of a town in the state’s rural southwest. This woman left her home in West Virginia to come to Marion VA in 1937 to teach at Carnegie High School, the community’s school for black children prior to desegregation.

The book tells the story of Johnson and other African-American women who were instrumental in the United States’ space program’s success. “These ‘human computers’... made sure America won the Space Race,” de-clares the cover of the book, published in 2016.

Johnson probably never dreamed that a book and movie would detail her life story or that, in 2016, NASA would name a $30 million, 40,000-square-foot Computational Research Facility in her honor.

According to “Evelyn T. Lawrence’s Directory of African-American Stu-dents and Teachers in all Smyth County Schools 1906-1965,” Johnson earned $585 for the entire term teaching fourth, fifth and sixth grade plus high school French and music. She also directed the choir. She taught again the following year and in 1946-47

During her time in Marion, Johnson met her husband, James Goble, who also taught at Carnegie. They started their family in the Smyth County courthouse town. Their first daughter, Joylette Hylick, was born in Mar-ion.
All along, Johnson remembered a college professor told her she would be an excellent mathematician. Then a relative mentioned that the Na-tional Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), the predecessor to NASA, was hiring mathematicians.
In a time when life could be challenging for women and African-Americans, Johnson succeeded. She went to work for NACA/NASA at Langley in 1953. She retired in 1986 after helping NASA and the United States make history.

By hand, she calculated the launch window and trajectory of the 1961 flight of Alan Shepard, the first American to go into space.

posted June 20th, 2017

Classmates Spotlight

Marion High School Classmates

Gayle Hall
Class of '91

Alumni Stories

High School Alumni Stores

Read and submit stories about our classmates from Marion High School, post achievements and news about our alumni, and post photos of our fellow Hurricanes.

The 2015-2016 school year is in full swing at Marion High School! The holidays are here along with all of the Hurricanes school events that come with them. Help keep your fellow Marion High School alumni informed of events in the community, fundraisers, new staff, grants, sports, safety classes, PTA events and more! Post your Marion High School school news here and give your fellow Hurricanes something to read about!

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