Sally Marquez says goodbye to the NMAA. Here are her reflections after 12 years as executive director.

The note was taped to Sally Marquez’s desk. It had been there since the COVID-19 pandemic.

It read:

“You guys have a hard job, like trying to put a puzzle together after the dog ate half the pieces and you lost the lid with the picture.”

The message, which originated from a student in Las Cruces, was for Marquez a daily reminder of the difficulties, demands and complications of a job she filled for the last 12 years.

That note is no longer taped to her desk, since she’s moved out of her office. Thursday will be her last day running the New Mexico Activities Association.

Marquez, 62, who became the executive director of the NMAA in September 2012, is retiring. Her successor is the NMAA’s longtime associate director, Dusty Young, whose first day is Friday.

“I’ve been thinking about retirement for a while,” Marquez said in an interview earlier this week. “It was time. Things transpired in my life where I had to reflect. … It became that this was the right time to exit.”

Marquez, born and raised in New Mexico and once a prominent multi-sport athlete at Manzano High School, spent 20 years with the NMAA, which regulates interscholastic activities and athletics in a state with one of the country’s most eclectic populations.

“She has what it takes to be successful in an organization like this,” said Anthony Casados, the president of the NMAA’s board of directors and the superintendent at Chama Valley Independent Schools. “She’s got the personality, the knowledge, the passion.

“She (was) out there advocating for students, for the NMAA. What can I say? She’s the greatest,” Casados said.

Marquez might have stayed on a bit longer, but said the devastating pandemic, which struck smack in the middle of the 2020 state basketball tournament and created massive fallout for well over a year, probably cut “three to five years” off her career at the NMAA.

“Because that was very taxing on me physically, mentally, emotionally,” she said.

It was noticed.

“I don’t believe there’s another individual who could have gotten us through the COVID situation,” said Young, who has long been Marquez’s right hand at the NMAA. “It took a lot out of her, but she made it happen. She’s the one who got us into finally starting our season.”

Initiating change

About the only positive that came out of the ugliness of the pandemic was the creation of powerlifting as an official sport; it had its first state tournament last spring. It began during COVID as a way to give athletes a way to compete against one another while they were restricted from traveling and were more or less quarantined. Marquez couldn’t say for sure if powerlifting would have been fast-tracked as a sport had the pandemic not occurred.

“That’s a tough question. I don’t know,” she said.

The NMAA also added girls wrestling to its roster of sports under Marquez’s watch, something she considers one of her notable successes.

A couple of recent developments, like a middle school cross country meet and a state marching band competition, were also, she said, satisfying to get up and running.

She cited the creation of the Compete With Class initiative as one of her favorite accomplishments. New Mexico, Marquez said, was following a template out of California until then.

“We had our own needs, so why can’t we bring everyone together and come up with our own initiative?” Marquez said.

This sportsmanship track took a darker turn in the last couple of years with the creation of the “Two Strikes” regulation that put athletes, coaches and fan bases on notice that offensive behaviors or language (directed at other teams, fan bases or especially officials) was going to be punished by the NMAA. A second strike would spell doom for an individual program or a fan base. This type of escalating poor behavior at high school contests is something Marquez has been continually frustrated by, and which she has railed against, pretty much the duration of her tenure.

Esports has also been a fast-blossoming activity the last few years, so much so that it has a couple thousand kids partaking. New Mexico was one of the first states to embrace esports as a fully fledged activity.

“I’m very proud of that,” she said.

If there were any regrets about items on her to-do list that never got checked off, Marquez didn’t say.

“I don’t think I have any regrets,” she answered. “There’s always room for improvement, things you want to accomplish. … The association is in a good place.”

Ready to move on

Marquez announced her retirement last month at a board of directors meeting. She was ready to let someone else be the face of the NMAA.

“It’s very difficult in this job to take a step away,” Marquez said. “It’s 24/7, and that’s not an exaggeration.”

The NMAA executive director position is one of the most polarizing jobs in high school athletics, given how complex the task of governing its approximately 160 member schools is — and also considering the wide variety of towns and cities and diversity of fan bases across the state, all with different wants and needs.

Marquez said: “It’s very difficult, this job. It is taxing, it is tiring, but then, too, it’s very, very rewarding.

“You make decisions that are in the best interest of all kids. Extracurriculars are good for every single kid in the state of New Mexico.”

COVID-19 proved by far the most challenging stretch of her career at the NMAA, as first fans were banned from the final three days of the 2020 state basketball tournament. Later, the entire spring 2020 season was canceled, and none of the sports resumed — and even when they did the following year, it was with abbreviated seasons and with masks — until early 2021. This timeline was almost entirely driven by state government officials in Santa Fe, however.

Marquez, who also served for a year (July 2022-June 2023) as president of the National Federation of State High School Associations, said dialogue with the heads of other state activities and athletics associations helped to enlighten her on how operations in New Mexico could be expanded and sharpened.

But as she thought back on her years at the NMAA, she noted that visibility, accessibility and communication were the vital components to her 12 years running the show.

“She’s been a true leader for the state of New Mexico,” Young said, “because of that communication piece. From Day 1, she said, ‘I don’t care who you are within the school, if you’re an assistant coach, athletic director, superintendent, board member, whoever it may be.’ She said, ‘I’m giving you my cellphone. Call me, I’m gonna listen, and we’re gonna take care of you.’”

Marquez said that aspect of the job did frequently extend her work day deep into the night.

“You are front and center 24 hours a day, everywhere you go. This is definitely not a 9-to-5 job. It was 24/7 and I enjoyed every part of it. In order to do a good job (in this position), you must be accessible 24/7.

“(As for the schools), first and foremost, making sure to communicate (to) the parents, the fans and making sure they understand what the NMAA does and how they work with the schools. It’s very difficult. People think Sally Marquez sits behind a desk making up all these rules, but I’m working for (the schools).”

What’s next?

The future of high school athletics, Marquez said, is shifting.

“The landscape is changing,” she acknowledged. “(But) New Mexico is in a very good place at this point. Changes at the NCAA level always seem to some way, somehow trickle down to the high school associations. High school sports in New Mexico is really top notch. We do not have a Power 5 college, so we’re a little bit different when we compare ourselves to other associations.”

Marquez said she is going to be active in helping with the transition to Young, and said she’ll still be working in various capacities at upcoming fall state tournaments, including running the volleyball event next month in Rio Rancho. Her approach in retirement is not unlike the one she followed as the executive director.

“I will continue to be of service to anybody who needs help in any way,” she said.

But by and large, she is detaching from the grind.

“Relationships,” Marquez said about what she’ll most miss. “The relationships with our schools, relationships with kids. … I became an educator to change lives, to change kids’ lives, and to teach. Same thing at the NMAA. And I do believe that’s what I’m going to miss more than anything.”