North Medford High School is a public high school in Medford, Oregon, United States. It is part of Medford School District. Its nickname is the Black Tornado. The school enrolls 1,750 students.

History Originally the City of Medford had a single high school, Medford High School, constructed in the 1920s. In the 1960s, the school district expanded, constructing a new high school on the opposite side of the city. Rather than develop this into an independent school, the district kept Medford High School as the lone school, with students attending at the two different locations. The current campus of NMHS was the newly constructed "Medford Senior High School", with grades 11 and 12 attending while grades 9 and 10 went to Medford Mid High School, which later became South Medford High School (SMHS) and ultimately Central Medford High School. (SMHS has since moved into a new building). This was set in place to primarily to allow Medford to compete athletically with larger school districts such as Portland Public Schools of Portland. At this time the city would have been placed in smaller athletic (then 2A) divisions if the district had been divided into two secondary schools.

During the 1960s and 70s, Medford commonly put forth many state championship athletic teams in the Oregon then 3A division. However, in 1986, Medford High School was finally split into the two current high schools. Both now house around 2,000 students, similar to the number of students Medford High School collectively held in the 1970s and 1980s.

North Medford's current principal is Allen Barber.

Campus development North Medford was built in 1965. It has been remodeled and has had additions, starting in 1973 through 1981, and again in 1992. In 2007, the City of Medford passed a bond for district wide school renovations, including a complete renovation of North Medford with remodeled auditorium, administrative space, and a new library. The project was completed in early 2011. In 2025, the school gym's roof collapsed under 700,000 lbs of snow. In its stead, a building called "The Field House" has been constructed, and came into use on the 10th of October, 2025.

The school campus includes of occupied building space with 64 classrooms. It is located on a large campus, most of which is used for sports and recreation. Both North and South Medford High School share a common football stadium, Spiegelberg Stadium.

Academics

Graduation rates per school year

Year % graduation 4-year cohort total 4-year cohort adjusted Graduated Drop-outs 5th year Modified diploma2013–1476%445407311483312014–1584%439388324342382015–1684%4123693093614122016–1790%430381344192142017–1891%47542338520529 Four-year cohort total is determined by the number of students initially in that class. Four-year cohort adjusted is representative of those students that did not transfer out of state, country, to private or homeschooling, or otherwise are deceased.

North Medford High School offers 17 Advanced Placement (AP) classes and opportunities for college credit through Rogue Community College and Southern Oregon University.

Awards North Medford consistently places highly among schools in contention for the OSAA's Oregonian Cup, a trophy awarded each year to the school that best exemplifies excellence in academics, activities, and athletics. The school ranked in the top 10 annually from the 2002–2003 school year to the 2008–2009 school year, winning the trophy in 2003–2004.

The school was also recognized in 2000 by the Grammy Foundation for excellence in music education, being named a Grammy Signature School.

Sports The North Medford Black Tornado participate in Oregon's 6A Southwest Conference. The school's colors are red and black. Prior to Oregon's shift from four classification level to six levels, North Medford was part of the Southern Oregon Conference (SOC) at level 4A.

State championships Team championships

Sport Years Baseball 1960, 1984, 2007, 2014 Boys' basketball 1924, 1929, 1960 Football 1928 (unofficial*), 1944, 1959, 1962, 1969, 1977, 1985, 1993 Boys' golf 1951, 1952, 1966, 1967, 1971, 1973, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982 Softball 1984, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2017 Girls' tennis 1964, 1973, 1974, 1975, 2001 Boys' tennis 1955, 1964 Boys' track and field 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1964

Oregon did not have an official state high-school football playoff until 1940.

Athletes from North Medford have won many individual state championships as well, with most occurring in the 1940s through the 1970s.

Individual championships Sport Event Years Cross county Boys 5k 2008, 2009 Golf Girls Individual play 2001 Boys Individual play 1951, 1952, 1967, 1973, 1974, 1979, 1982, 2005 Tennis Girls Singles 2001 Doubles 1964, 1966, 2001, 2003 Boys Singles 1955, 1973 Doubles 1960, 1963, 1995, 2007, 2008, 2009 Track and field Girls 300m hurdles 2013, 2015 High jump 2014 Javelin 1981 Long jump 1978, 1979 Shot put 2017, 2019 Boys 100m 2015, 2016 110m high hurdles 1980 200m 2016 300m hurdles 1997 800m 2011 1500m 2010 3000m 2010 Discus 2001, 2004, 2023 Javelin 1946, 1951, 1953, 1955 High jump 1939, 1940, 1941, 1953, 1966, 2024 Long jump 1956, 1957, 2018 Pole vault 1941, 1950, 1973, 1974 Shot put 1953, 1957, 1959, 1983 Wrestling Girls 100 lbs 2023 105 lbs 2024 110 lbs 2018, 2021 115 lbs 2019 130 lbs 2024 135 lbs 2023 Boys 170 lbs 2015, 2016 195 lbs 2014 Events no longer contested Swimming Girls 50-yard freestyle 1980 100-yard breaststroke 1975 100-yard freestyle 1980 200-yard medley relay 1980 Boys 100-yard freestyle 1962, 1963, 1964 200-yard freestyle 1963 200-yard individual medley 1962 Diving 1962, 1963, 1964 Track and field Girls 1-mile run 1972 440-yard relay 1966 Boys 100-yard dash 1942, 1948, 1964 220-yard dash 1949, 1964 440-yard dash 1939, 1940, 1941, 1943, 1948, 1961 880-yard dash 1947, 1956 120-yard high hurdles 1941, 1949, 1951, 1954, 1957, 1970, 1973, 1974 180-yard low hurdles 1951, 1956 200-yard low hurdles 1947, 1949, 1950 330-yard intermediate hurdles 1974 440-yard relay 1970 880-yard relay 1943, 1948, 1950, 1951, 1953 1-mile relay 1973, 1974 Wrestling Boys 115 lbs 1969, 1974 123 lbs 1964, 1965 130 lbs 1975 136 lbs 1962 141 lbs 1961 148 lbs 1969 191 lbs 1961 275 lbs 1962, 1964, 1965, 1966

Notable alumni Brad Arnsberg, former baseball player, New York Yankees and Texas Rangers; earned the save for Nolan Ryan's 300th career win; pitching coach for Florida Marlins when they won 2003 World Series Bill Bowerman, founder of Nike, Inc., former University of Oregon track coach Seth Brown, baseball player for the Oakland Athletics Tracey Eaton, professional football player for Houston Oilers, Tennessee Titans, Atlanta Falcons Dick Fosbury, athlete, high jump, inventor of Fosbury Flop, and Olympic gold medalist Page Hamilton, founder/guitarist of band Helmet Marshall Holman, professional bowler Jon Lindstrom, actor, writer, and musician Danny Miles, hall of fame basketball coach Kellin Quinn, lead singer of rock band Sleeping With Sirens Lisa Rinna, actress, talk show host, reality TV personality Jaida Ross, NCAA record holder in the shot put Braden Shipley, baseball player, pitcher for Arizona Diamondbacks Kevin Towers, general manager of San Diego Padres 1995–2009, Arizona Diamondbacks 2010–2014 Bob Wolcott, former baseball player

References

External links