Que Tucker, commissioner of NC’s high school sports association, to retire
The commissioner of North Carolina’s high school sports association plans to retire this fall.
Que Tucker, who’s been working at the North Carolina High School Athletic Association for more than three decades and has been NCHSAA commissioner since 2015, announced Monday she’ll retire on Oct. 1.
A native of Reidsville, North Carolina, Tucker joined the NCHSAA staff in 1991 after serving for two years as an assistant women’s basketball coach at N.C. State.
In a 2023 interview with The Charlotte Observer, Tucker said former NCHSAA commissioner Charlie Adams asked her to head a newly-created student services division.
She said she faced challenges, as a woman in a role that mostly was dominated by men.
“I was in a couple of settings and somebody would ask some challenging questions, and I was able to answer because I was studying and I knew,” she said in the Observer interview. “After it was over, Charlie (Adams) said, ‘You did a great job and you answered that exactly the way you were supposed to.’”
Adams retired in 2010, and his successor, Davis Whitfield, left in 2015 for a position with the National Federation of High Schools.
Tucker said she was approached by the NCHSAA board about her interest in becoming commissioner. At the time, she said later, she felt as if she was approaching retirement — but she agreed to take the position on an interim basis.
Tucker said NCHSAA board president Mo Green, a former Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools executive, eventually asked her, “I need to know what you’re going to do: move back to the deputy position or are you interested in staying?’”
She decided to stay as commissioner and became the NCHSAA’s first Black commissioner, and the first woman to lead the organization. .
Tucker was asked in the 2023 Observer interview if she considers herself a trailblazer.
“I realize for women sitting in this chair, it was a rarity in 2015,” she said. “I owe it to young girls who look like me to know that there’s an opportunity for you in sports, if you want it.”
Tucker and the NCHSAA navigated some rocky waters in recent years. Those included disruptions to the athletic calendar, caused by COVID and also by several hurricanes. The COVID schedule changes drew fire from some critics who wanted less disruption of the athletic schedule during the pandemic.
But the biggest test came when several state legislators introduced House Bill 91, which could have put an end to the NCHSAA.
Tucker and the NCHSAA’s directors eventually came to a “memorandum of understanding” in 2023 that maintained the association’s role — although the NCHSAA made some changes in the way it operated.
Tucker said the memorandum of understanding was a compromise to the House Bill 91 situation.
“Our board came to a point where we realized a bill was going to be passed,” she said. “If we dig our heels in and push back on a bill being passed, we’re going to lose in the end.”
Tucker added that the NCHSAA board decided to “come up with language we can live with that will be in the bill that gives us an opportunity to move forward as an association. “
In her statement Monday, Tucker said, “Since I joined the NCHSAA in 1991, it has been the privilege of a lifetime to work for and help guide an organization rooted in education, sportsmanship, and opportunity.
“Together, we have navigated moments of growth, challenge, and change — always with a shared commitment to doing what is right and what is best for students across our state.”
This story was originally published March 23, 2026 at 11:39 AM with the headline "Que Tucker, commissioner of NC’s high school sports association, to retire."
