Tyler's Marques Pettigrew is one of 11 officials chosen to work the Final Four. (Contributed photo)

What started with calling youth basketball games at the YMCA is now leading to a trip to the pinnacle of college basketball — the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Final Four in Glendale, Arizona.

Marques Pettigrew, a 1994 graduate of John Tyler High School, is one of 11 officials who have been selected to work the Final Four.

“When I got the phone call on Monday from Chris Rastatter, who is the national coordinator of officials for the NCAA, to be honest, I thought it was an April Fools’ joke,” Pettigrew said. “I know how hard it is to get to this point. A lot of guys ref their entire career and never get to do a tournament game, let alone in a Final Four. It is surreal. I am thankful for the opportunity. I never thought I would get to this level.

“I’m extremely excited. I went through a wide range of emotions. I got a lot of calls and texts. I cried to some and laughed with others.”

Pettigrew played basketball at John Tyler, where his senior year, the Lions advanced to the third round of the playoffs before falling to Temple.

Pettigrew eventually went to McLennan Community College in Waco to play basketball for a year before getting a day job.

Pettigrew said he moved to the Dallas-Fort Worth area to be closer to his now wife, LaTisha, who is also from Tyler and was a 1993 graduate of Robert E. Lee High school and graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington.

In about 2004, Pettigrew said his friend, former John Tyler quarterback Morris Anderson, has a cousin, Tommy Vaughn, who worked at the YMCA and needed help and asked him if he ever thought about officiating.

Pettigrew said “no.” Vaughn told him to get a shirt and shoes and to come out to try it and see if he likes it and then go from there.

“He said I could make $15 an hour for four games,” Pettigrew said. “I was like cool, let’s do it.

“I went out there for the first time and threw the ball up — the kids were no more than 8 or 9 years old — as soon as I threw the ball up, I was like wow! I’m back in the game.”

Pettigrew said from there, he started doing junior high and high school games. He then went to some small college camps and got picked up there. He said he went to Division I camps and got picked up there.

“My career took off from there,” Pettigrew said. “If it wasn’t for him asking me, I would have probably never gotten into it.”

Pettigrew said his faith is a big part of his life.

“I would not be here without God,” Pettigrew said. “He laid the path for me. I never thought I would be officiating at any level at any point until I moved to Dallas. I feel it was ordained for him to move me here and meet the people I’ve met that have helped get me to this point.”

Pettigrew said his first Division I game was in the 2010-11 season when Lamar University hosted Lyon College in Beaumont. He said former Big 12 Coordinator of Officials Curtis Shaw and Reggie Cofer, the former Southwestern Athletic Conference Coordinator of Officials who passed away in 2023, were the first two people to give him a shot at the Division I level.

Officiating has taken Pettigrew to several places in the past 14 years.

“I’ve been fortunate to do a lot of traveling that I wouldn’t be able to do if not for basketball,” Pettigrew said. “I’ve been to the Bahamas, Canada and Hawaii. Things like that are rewarding because I get to take my family.”

Pettigrew said calling games at Kansas’ Allen Fieldhouse has a different energy to it.

A place that was special to Pettigrew was Texas’ Frank Erwin Center.

“Growing up, my father and his friends would go to the Frank Erwin Center every year for the state championships,” Pettigrew said. “I would go with them and watch games and thought it would be great to get on this floor one day. It never came to fruition for me (as a player). But my first Division I game at Texas, I thought to myself that I finally made it to the Frank Erwin Center. I never thought it would be as an official, but as a player.”

Pettigrew has called 84 games this season in 20 conferences and 22 states. The Big 12 is his primary conference.

Pettigrew was on the crew for Sunday’s Elite Eight game between Purdue and Tennessee in Detroit. Purdue’s 7-4, 300-pound Zach Edey is often a topic of conversation — one for his dominance on the court but also the challenges of officiating him.

“Every game you’re involved in, no matter the level of game, you have to make a decision on every trip down the floor,” Pettigrew said. “Edey is one of one. There is nobody in the country like him. He’s the biggest guy on the floor and the strongest on the floor. He is probably the toughest player in the country to referee. There are usually other players to compare somebody to, but he’s very unique.”

During this NCAA Tournament, Pettigrew also called Baylor’s 92-67 win over Colgate in the first round in Memphis, Tennessee, and Houston’s 100-95 overtime win over Texas A&M in the second round in Memphis.

Pettigrew will be joined at the Final Four by Patrick Adams, Jeffrey Anderson, Roger Ayers, Courtney Green, Ronald Groover, Keith Kimble, Kipp Kissinger, Terry Oglesby, Michael Reed and Paul Szelc.

Purdue will face North Carolina State in one national semifinal at 5:09 p.m. Saturday, and Alabama will take on Connecticut in the other semifinal at 7:49 p.m. Saturday. The championship game is scheduled for Monday. All games will be on TBS.

Along with officiating, Pettigrew is a minority owner of CBD American Shaman of Tyler, where Morris Anderson is the majority owner.

Pettigrew and his wife, LaTisha, have a 6-year-old son, Zayne. They reside in Grand Prairie.

Pettigrew is the son of James and Sheila Pettigrew of Tyler.