LA CUEVA’S JIM CICCARELLO INDUCTED INTO NFHS HALL OF FAME CLASS OF 2025
CHICAGO, IL – On Monday night, La Cueva High School track and field coach Jim Ciccarello was officially inducted into the National Federation of High Schools (NFHS) Hall of Fame Class of 2025. Ciccarello and the Class of 2025 was honored at the 42nd induction ceremony of the National High School Hall of Fame, held at the 106th NFHS Summer Meeting in Chicago, Illinois. Ciccarello is the 10th individual from the state of New Mexico inducted into the NFHS Hall of Fame.
“I never went into this profession to be sitting where I am right now,” said Ciccarello at Monday’s press conference honoring the 2025 Class. “I decided I wanted to be a coach because of my love for athletics and fitness. I wanted to pass this onto kids and make a contribution to teach them the love of being an athlete and being dedicated and motivated to excel.”
Ciccarello’s coaching career spans over five decades in New Mexico. He taught at 5 different elementary schools and 4 different high schools (Manzano, Sandia, Highland, and La Cueva). He has 11 state track and field team championships on his resume, along with coaching more than 300 individual New Mexico State Champions. His athletes have combined for over twenty New Mexico state records. Just as impressive as his total of 11 first place team titles is the fact he finished runner-up another 12 times. His teams finished on the podium (1st, 2nd, or 3rd) 16 times in the last 26 years. In addition to his state championship finishes, Coach Ciccarello has also won 25 District Team Championships through the years. In 2011, he was inducted into the New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame and in 2012 Coach Ciccarello was named the National Federation of High School’s Track and Field’s National Coach of the Year. The 83-year old Ciccarello continues to coach to this day.
“We, as coaches, help athletes and young people realize their dreams,” said Ciccarello. “We don’t jump seven feet, but we get a kid to jump seven feet to make his life better. It’s about helping kids reach their dreams.”
“Coach Ciccarello embodies everything the Hall of Fame represents, and his induction celebrates not only his wins but the lives he shaped,” said NMAA Executive Director Dusty Young. “He didn’t just train kids, he built character through education-based athletics. His legacy lives on in every student-athlete he coached.”
Individuals from New Mexico in the NFHS Hall of Fame:
Ralph Tasker, inducted 1988
Mel Otero, inducted 1988
Ralph Boyer, inducted 1990
Tommy McDonald, inducted 1997
Jim Hulsman, inducted 2003
Bill Gentry, inducted 2005
Pete Shock, inducted 2011
David Barney, inducted 2015
Notah Begay, inducted 2022
Jim Ciccarello, inducted 2025
