Norris Commodore, class of 1973
45’ 11”! Breaking his previous shot-put record of 43’ 3”, and 6 inches farther than the record set in 1929: even in 1971, Norris Commodore was making a lasting impression at Washington College.
A Chestertown local, he played soccer at WAC and set a school record in the shot put
while on the track team. In his junior year, he interned with a computer company in
Harrisburg, PA and thus his career as a system engineer began. After graduating with
a math degree, he went on to a long career at IBM. The 1970s could not have been easy
for a Black student at a recently integrated liberal arts college. To have Norris
as an active alumnus, even serving on the Board of Visitors and Governors, is a betterment
to the organization. When a collection of papers related to African Americans went
up for sale at a local auction house, Norris Commodore helped Sumner Hall purchase
the papers, now known as the Commodore Collection, so they can remain in Kent County.
We hope Norris has a great time at the 50th reunion.
If you would like to hear about Norris Commodore’s time at Washington College, you can listen to his oral history interview in the Chesapeake Heartland Digital Archive and see the collection he helped save.
