Tom Marquette is a 1978 graduate of Ashland High School and 1982 graduate of Ashland College. He excelled as a student-athlete, being named athlete of the year and valedictorian of his high school class.

Tom represents the dedication and spirit of a true lifelong athlete. As the youngest boy, with two older and equally competitive brothers, he worked hard to become the best at anything he took an interest in. As most young boys do, he aspired to become a professional basketball or football player. His father and mother encouraged their boys to participate in sports. His father, Ron Marquette, was a renowned basketball and baseball player and Hall of Fame inductee at Findlay College and is also a 2014 Trustee inductee of the Ashland County Sports Hall of Fame.

Tom’s quickness, agility, and height made him a natural in basketball. He won the National Pass, Dribble, and Shoot Contest at the age of eleven and was on his way to a successful basketball career through high school and college. Not only did he love basketball, but Track and Field events came naturally to him. He excelled in events such as the hurdles, pole vault, long jump, and triple jump. During his high school career, he broke the Ashland High School record in the long jump and triple jump and earned All-Ohio honors with a 5th place finish in the long jump at 1978 AAA state track meet with a jump of 22’-3”.

At Ashland High School, Tom led his basketball team to the 1978 Cardinal Conference championship and district runner-up. He was named Special Mention All-Ohio, team MVP and the Mansfield News Journal AAA player of the year. He went on to play Varsity basketball at the College of Wooster and Ashland College.

Although his first love may have been basketball, he continued to also compete in Track and Field at Ashland College. He excelled in the jumping events, culminating with a conference championship in the triple jump in 1982 with a life-time best jump of 44”-11” He was named team MVP and also received the Fred McClintock Memorial Award and the JC Hyland Awards in Track and Field while attending Ashland College.

After college, Tom naturally gravitated to the sport of fast pitch softball. Ashland had become a hotbed for men’s fast pitch softball in the state and this part of the country during the decade of the 1960’s through I990’s which allowed players in the Ashland community to continue to compete in athletics at a high level. For the next dozen years, Tom used his speed and athletic ability to excel on the softball diamond from the local Church League to industrial sponsored teams that competed on the state and national level including Abbott Labs, Ashland ESS and Faultless Rubber. During this era, Tom’s summers typically culminated in competition in numerous ISC and ASA national tournaments.

As the father of two boys, Scott and Ryan, Tom’s talents turned to coaching youth sports including Little League Baseball, YMCA and AAU Basketball, Soccer, and Golf. There were always teams to coach and young boys who needed a mentor or just someone to show them how the game was played and Tom was willing to always step up to the plate.
His professional career also led him down a pathway of sports. He served as a math teacher at Northwestern High School and held various coaching positions along the way including track, basketball, football, baseball and golf. His next job took him to Lucas Local Schools where he was the Athletic Director. Later, he became a school administrator in the Ashland City Schools and retired as high school principal in 2015. After retirement, Tom took on the job of Ashland High School Girls Golf Coach from 2019 to 2022 where he coached the Arrow golfers to three consecutive appearances in the OHSAA State Tournament.

Giving back to the community is important to Tom. He spent several years on the local YMCA board and currently serves on the boards of the Ashland Cemetery and the Ashland County Community Academy. On Monday and Friday mornings in the summer you will still find Tom instructing the youth of the community in the fundamentals of golf at the Brookside Golf Course Junior Golf Program. In what he calls the most fun job he has ever had, Tom currently works part-time for the Ashland University Athletic Department as a member of the table crew running the clock/scoreboard for Football, Men’s and Women’s Basketball, and Stunt.

Tom Marquette represents the person who loves sports for the personal enjoyment, challenge and excitement of the game. He has always been someone to give every challenge his personal best. He believes in the Ashland community and feels blessed to have had the opportunity to grow up here. He continues to be motivated to give back to the community that has so enriched his life through the local sports programs and institutions that support athletes and their dreams. Although that eleven year old boy may not have obtained the once-dreamed professional basketball or football career, he has gained things far more valuable from his life-long involvement in sports.