Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Tucumcari's Wayne Ferguson (left) holds NMAA Hall of Fame plaque with NMAA executive director Sally Marquez and Melrose Municipal Schools superintendent Brian Stacy during the induction ceremony Thursday in Albuquerque.
The New Mexico Activities Association on Thursday inducted longtime Tucumcari High School coach and administrator Wayne Ferguson into the NMAA Hall of Fame.
The ceremony took place during the second annual New Mexico High School Sports Award Show and Dinner at the Albuquerque Convention Center.
Ferguson's selection to the NMAA Hall of Fame was announced in March. He is the 116th inductee into the Hall.
Ferguson's NMAA Hall of Fame video can be viewed at https://youtu.be/veTeNW0qyxI. In it, Ferguson credits former athletic director Don Sparks, longtime THS coach John Span, recently retired superintendent Aaron McKinney, assistant superintendent Dave Johnson and high school principal Nicole Bright-Lesly as influences or supporters.
"I didn't bend or break any rules to try to benefit a team or the school or anything like that," Ferguson said. "I did everything with integrity and for 'bleeding purple and gold' ... to do it the right way to Tucumcari look good."
The video also contains brief interviews with Johnson and longtime THS coach Eddie Encinias.
Ferguson, a 1984 graduate of THS, competed in football, basketball and track as a Rattler.
He received his bachelor's degree at Eastern New Mexico University in 1991 and his master's from Lesley University in 2006.
Ferguson returned to Tucumcari, where he has spent his entire career as a teacher, coach and athletic director. He later became a dean of students and the Rattlers' athletic director, including being named Class 3A Athletic Director of the Year in 2019.
His coaching career includes boys' and girls' basketball, wrestling, football and track and field. From 2011 to 2021, Ferguson led the Rattlers football team as their head coach and serves as Tucumcari's head coach in track and field. He led Tucumcari to state titles in track in 2008 and 2017.
Ferguson won the 2021 NHFS New Mexico Boys Track Coach of the Year honor, was a 2021 National Coach of the Year finalist and was inducted into the New Mexico Track & Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2018.
Ferguson has served on the NMAA Commission, the NMAA Football and Track & Field Sports Specific Committees, and was the district chairman from 2002 to 2018.
Ferguson and his wife Leslie reside in Tucumcari and have been married for over 32 years. They have two children, Meagan, and Tyler, and two grandsons, Carson and Caden.
The NMAA Hall of Fame, established in 1976, is comprised of accomplished individuals who have made significant contributions to interscholastic athletics and activities in New Mexico.
