Just up the road from Boston sits a little town called Stoneham, Mass., which 67-year-old Sedona resident Noel Marquis calls home.

On Thursday nights, Marquis can be seen wearing his blues as he umpires for the local Sedona Summer Softball League.

For the past few years, Marquis keeps busy calling balls and strikes for the city, trying to keep the mostly blue-collar working men of the Verde Valley from getting into verbal altercations about whether a guy was out or safe at first base.

The umpire, who says his greatest achievement on the diamond is when the players and fans don’t even know he’s there, traces his athletic beginnings to that small town on the East Coast.

Stoneham, which is more like a suburb of Boston, is home to famous Olympic skater Nancy Kerrigan. It’s how Marquis describes where he’s from and always gives a big smile and a chuckle when doing so.

Come September, Marquis will return to Massachusetts for his 50th high school reunion at Stoneham High School.

Marquis and his wife, Rosemary, celebrate their 46th wedding anniversary in September as well, making it a big month for the East Coast family.

At the moment, however, Marquis only cares about game seven of the National Hockey League Stanley Cup, in which his favorite team, the Boston Bruins, won its first league championship since 1972 on Wednesday, June 15.

Marquis was quite the athlete during his prep days, lettering in baseball, hockey, golf and cross country during his four years in school. He even earned four varsity letters his senior season in cross country, hockey, golf and track and field.

“You can’t do that these days. After cross country and hockey seasons, I usually played golf. But during my senior year, I decided to run track too. So, I focused on golf and went to the track meets,” Marquis said with another big smile.

According to Marquis, his biggest athletic accomplishment in high school was helping Stoneham earn a second-place finish at state in cross country.

“My parents wouldn’t sign for football, so I played everything else that I could,” Marquis recalled.

After graduating from Stoneham in 1961, Marquis traveled to Indiana to attend Franklin College and graduated in 1965 with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics.

He didn’t leave his athletic ability in Stoneham either. During his time at Franklin, Marquis was a two-year letter winner in cross country and earned four letters in golf.

In 1967, Marquis earned his master’s degree at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. He began work on his doctorate at Westminster College in Salt Lake City, but wound up teaching back at his alma mater in Franklin.

After the Vietnam War ended, enrollment began to drop off and Marquis’ contract as a professor wasn’t renewed. Instead, he began to work in human resources and did so for 25 years before retiring at the age of 55.

Marquis and his wife moved to the Verde Valley, and he taught math at Oak Creek Ranch School, between Sedona and Cottonwood, beginning in 1999.

After 11 years of service, Marquis retired for the second time, but before he went, he was given the opportunity of a lifetime in spring 2010.

“The kids picked me to do the commencement speech. How cool is that? It was special to me,” Marquis said.

As for his umpiring gig, Marquis began this part-time career in the summer of 1962 when a good friend needed his help umpiring Little League baseball. From then on, he was hooked.

“I’ve umpired everything from baseball, to fast-pitch adult softball and, of course, slow pitch. I’ve done some of the biggest slow-pitch leagues in the country,” Marquis said.

He went on to say in Sedona, it’s an easier game to call with less arguing because the strike zone is home plate, and a black mat that extends about two feet behind the plate.

“Less arguing is good. If the ball hits the mat, it’s a strike; if not, it’s a ball. You can’t mess that up,” Marquis laughed.

Marquis continued to laugh, saying they don’t pay you to umpire the game, they pay you to take crap.

In his spare time, Marquis likes to follow the Bruins, the Boston Celtics, the Indianapolis Colts, the New England Patriots and the Arizona Cardinals.

He also likes NASCAR, claiming stake on the Jeff Gordon bandwagon, except he’s a real fan.

“When I was in Indiana the Indianapolis newspapers would always have stuff on Jeff Gordon, because he was so good in high school. I’ve followed him his whole career,” Marquis said.

When asked why he continues to umpire, Marquis had a very simple answer.

“I like being out there. I like the competition. I like to go out there and have fun. It’s what I do,” Marquis said.