Hall of Fame
Ralph Jamison Ross attended Magnolia A&M College in 1946-48 and graduated with an associate of arts degree. He came to what is now Southern Arkansas University after serving three years in the United States Marine Corps during World War II. Ross came to A&M the same year as football and basketball coach Elmer Smith, whose mission was to restore Mulerider athletic programs following World War II. He attended school with some 250 plus students, many of them armed service veterans on the GI Bill of Rights.
Ross claims the first year was a learning experience, not only for the coaching staff, but for the student-athletes as well. There was no equipment, no practice field, and no place to play home games. “We began practice in a little patch some 45 yards long and 25 yards wide between the bookstore and the little box huts we lived in. The bookstore was also the post office and the student union, the size of a large den, 25X40 feet. I had never played football, as many of the team members also hadn’t. I could catch a ball, so I was assigned to play end along with Charlie McClendon, who would later play at Kentucky and become the head football coach at LSU with the most wins in school history,” Ross said.
“Two things stand out in my mind about A&M (SAU). First, I caught a pass good for 39 yards thrown by (retired) General Jimmie (Red) Jones against the Arkansas “B” Team, which beat us 45-6. Second, I met my future wife, Lylette Rogers. We were married March 30, 1947,” he added. The Ross’ have two sons, Randy and Greg, both SAU graduates, and three grandchildren, Angela, Erin, and Lee.
In 1947, Ross became A&M’s first trainer. “After graduation from junior college, Coach Elmer (Smith) took me to the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville to enter school. He got me a job through John Barnhill, then the head football coach and athletic director at Arkansas, with the athletic department.” Ross worked as a trainer with the freshmen football, varsity basketball, and baseball teams. Dave Hanner, Fred Williams, Bob Griffin, and Pat Summerall, all huge linemen and later standouts in professional football, were on the freshmen football team that year. (Retired) Dr. John Ed Alexander of Magnolia was a left-handed pitcher on the Razorback baseball team.
In 1949, Ross came back to A&M, which was then named Southern State College, to teach and coach football. In the spring of 1950 he was the head baseball coach. W.T. Watson, Ben Smith, Raiford Benefield, and Norman Polk were members of the baseball team. Former Mulerider quarterback Sam Bailey replaced Ross as assistant football and head baseball coach and eventually went to Alabama as Bear Bryant’s assistant head football coach and athletic director.
Ross got his BSE from Arkansas in 1951 and returned later that year to work for the Magnolia Public Schools, teaching and coaching, and retiring after 36 years of service to the school district. He coached the Magnolia Cubs for a couple of years before starting an eighth grade program. His eighth grade Cubs posted a 70-10 record. Ross was also instrumental in 1951 in helping to change the junior high nickname from the “Atoms” to the present-day “Cubs”. He then coached the Magnolia Panther “B” football and basketball teams. He organized the school science fair in which he worked with for 35 years.
He did summer work at the Arkansas Graduate School in Little Rock, Miami University-Ohio, the University of Georgia, the University of North Carolina, and the University of Florida. He worked with the American Legion Boys State program for 25 years, and also was Little League (baseball) Director for 14 years in Magnolia. For the past 35 years, he has been the gate keeper at SAU for Mulerider football, basketball, baseball, and track and field.
The Ross’ are 57-year members of Asbury (formerly Jackson Street) United Methodist Church.
