Mr. C. M. Irvin was a member of the El Paso Chamber of Commerce and was the president of the school board from 1955 through April 8, 1958, when he retired.

Irvin High School serves the central portion of Northeast El Paso, an inner-suburb area of mainly single-family homes and apartment complexes built for the most part in the 1950s and 1960s, except for the Eisenhower-Sahara neighborhood between Dyer Street and McCombs Street which is just south of the Woodrow Bean-Transmountain Road (Texas Loop 375) and the Castner Heights neighborhood, which was built on a tract of former United States Army land bordered by Dyer Street, the Patriot Freeway (US 54), Diana Drive and Hondo Pass Avenue.

In 1962, Irvin High School established its Junior Reserve Officer's Training Corps as the 6th JROTC Battalion as part of the 5th Brigade of Cadets.

The Rocket was chosen as the mascot for Irvin High School because of its close affiliation with the military at nearby Fort Bliss.

On that same line, the patriotic colors of Red, White, and Blue were chosen by the coaches and the school board to represent Irvin's pride.