Jim van scoyoc biography norway high school

Jim Van Scoyoc

Norway High School Assistant Coach 1968-1971
Norway High School Head Coach 1972-1988, 1990

The history of baseball in Norway, Iowa, would be extraordinary even without any of the twenty state high school championships the school won between 1965 and 1991.

The town team’s achievement and the individuals that played and starred in professional baseball would – alone - classify Norway baseball as an unqualified success.  When the accomplishments of the high school program are added to the mix, however, the performance transcends excellence and approaches the boundary of legend.

The mere notion of such a tiny community not only playing with, but defeating, the largest schools in Iowa, and doing so regularly for almost three decades, borders on absurdity.  Yet it happened.  ‘Pinky’ Primrose re-invigorated the program in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and Bernie Hutchison led seven squads to state titles, but the dominant legacy of Norway was cemen