La Cueva's Jim Ciccarello to become 10th New Mexican inducted into elite Hall of Fame

Mar. 13—Jim Ciccarello arrived in Albuquerque on a Greyhound bus 67 years ago, a Jersey City teenager with an interest in track and field but no particular knowledge of the New Mexico desert city he arrived to in 1958.

He enrolled in Valley High School, where he was a standout basketball player.

Much later, he began coaching track and field, and in fact, Ciccarello today is a dean, and regarded as one of the pillars in the prep track community, having coached this sport for all or parts of six decades.

It was announced Thursday that Ciccarello, one of New Mexico's longest-tenured prep coaches in any sport, and the current girls track and field coach at La Cueva High School, will be inducted into the National Federation of High Schools Hall of Fame this summer.

"This is quite the honor," he said in an interview just prior to La Cueva's practice Thursday. "I didn't see it coming."

The gregarious Ciccarello will formally be inducted in late June in Chicago.

He becomes the 10th New Mexican to be inducted into what is regarded as the most elite of any high school-themed Hall of Fame. The other nine are Ralph Bowyer, Jim Hulsman, Bill Gentry, Ralph Tasker, Dave Barney, Pete Shock, Mel Otero, Tommy McDonald and Notah Begay III.

Ciccarello's list of coaching accolades is lengthy. Among them, he was inducted into the New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame in 2011. He was inducted into the New Mexico High School Coaches Hall of Honor in 2014. In 2012, he was named the NFHS National Girls Track and Field Coach of the Year.

"All these years of coaching, I've had my share of honors," he said. "But this is probably the No. 1 honor you can get."

He has been a part of Albuquerque Public Schools for 56 years. He has coached track and field at Manzano, Sandia, Highland and, for the last quarter century, La Cueva.

"Long journey," he said.

Ciccarello has been a pioneer of growing girls track and field in Albuquerque, starting with the creation of the Albuquerque Track Club. Several years later he became Manzano's first girls track coach and led the Monarchs to consecutive state championships in 1977 and 1978.

Later, Ciccarello, who turns 83 next month, took over at Sandia, then Highland, and eventually he moved on to La Cueva.

The Bears have won nine state championships with Ciccarello as their coach, the most recent being two years ago.

"Coach Ciccarello's dedication, passion and impact on our community have set the standard of excellence that will inspire future generations," New Mexico Activities Association executive director Dusty Young said in a statement. "His legacy embodies the values we hold dear, and we are honored to celebrate his remarkable contributions to the world of education-based athletics."

Former NMAA executive director Sally Marquez was an athlete who competed at Manzano under Ciccarello on a state championship team in the late 1970s.

"Jim is so deserving to be selected," Marquez told the Journal. "Although he has won many championships over the years, he has never put winning in front of teaching all his athletes lifelong skills. His devotion to his students' wellbeing has always been first and foremost."

Ciccarello has coached more than 300 individual champions in his storied career. He was a longtime physical education teacher at the elementary school level in APS before he eventually retired.

He's unassuming when you spot him at local meets, but Ciccarello retains his passion for coaching, even through a day like Thursday, when those oh-so-familiar March winds begin kicking up. He admitted that he'd never have projected for himself a career that would still be going strong at his age.

"No way," he said, laughing. "That's way out there. We just go week to week, month to month, season to season."

He said he was a young boy in New Jersey when he became part of a track program, and fell in love with the sport. "I got excited about track and field," he said. He played basketball and golf, but his heart belonged to track and field.

And it's working with kids, he always says, that gasses him up professionally.

As for that bus ride, he talked about how he and his family of six boarded that bus and traveled to a new land.

"I had my nose against the window, looking at everything," he said. The family lived on an egg farm in the North Valley with his mother's brother.

And now, 67 years later, this honor so late in his career has left him in a reflective mood.

"You can coach for one or two years, but when you go for 30, 40, 50 years ... it's a special journey you're taking in your life," Ciccarello said. "Coaching is hard. And coaches know it."

NMAA HALL OF FAME: The NMAA announced its three 2025 inductees into its NMAA Hall of Fame on Thursday afternoon at the Pit.

This year's trio are Paul Benoit (Floyd Municipal Schools), Bill Green (Reserve Independent Schools) and Dickie Roybal (Melrose).

These men are the 117th, 118th and 119th inductees into the NMAA HOF. The induction ceremony is July 19 at the Albuquerque Convention Center.

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