Ronald Ross (basketball)

A native of the Southwest, Ross starred at Hobbs High School in Hobbs, New Mexico.[1] He was an integral part of three consecutive state championships from 1999 to 2001, including an undefeated campaign as a sophomore in 1998–99 (27–0).[1] Hobbs High School won the 1999 and 2001 state championships at the University of New Mexico's famous home court, The Pit.[1] And while Ross performed well throughout his prep career – having been named USA Today's New Mexico State Player of the Year as a senior – he found himself without any four-year college scholarship offers.[1][2] In one game that season he recorded 38 points, 8 steals, 8 rebounds, 7 assists and 5 dunks.[3]

Ross decided to walk on to the Texas Tech basketball team as a freshman in 2001–02, in spite of his mother's urging to attend one year of junior college instead.[1] It was Bob Knight's first year at Tech and he needed talented walk-ons to begin building his roster.[1] It took until Ross' junior year to earn a scholarship, however.[1] Years later his mother said, "I had to support him. It was expensive and hard at first, but I'd have to say it's worked out."[1] The year he earned his scholarship saw him more than double his scoring average from 4.5 as a sophomore to 10.1 as a junior.[4] He started 31 of 34 games played, and rounded out his season averages with 3.1 assists and 1.5 steals.[4]

Knight made Ross a team captain when he became a senior in 2004–05.[1] Ross was known for his work ethic[3] and later that season garnered praise from Knight, who said "He's an all-time example to kids as to what they can do with what they have."[1] He again substantially increased his scoring average, netting 17.5 points per game to along with 5.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 2.6 steals per game.[4] The 6th-seeded Red Raiders advanced to the NCAA tournament's Sweet Sixteen behind Ross' great play.[1] In the opening round win against 11th-seeded UCLA, Ross scored a then-school record for points in an NCAA Tournament game with 28 (later surpassed by Jarrett Culver in 2019).[1] In the next round against 3rd-seeded Gonzaga, he scored 24 points, including a go-ahead three-pointer with 1:06 remaining as well as two free throws to clinch the Red Raiders' two-point win.[1] Ross garnered several individual accolades. For Big 12 Conference honors he was named to the All-Big 12 first-team and the All-Defensive Team.[2] Nationally, he was named the winner of the Chip Hilton Player of the Year Award, given by the NCAA to a Division I player who demonstrated outstanding character, leadership, integrity, humility, sportsmanship, and talent.[2] Ross finished his collegiate career with 1,174 points.[4]

Following Texas Tech, Ross went undrafted in the 2005 NBA draft.[5] He quickly found a spot playing for Castelletto Ticino in Serie A2 Basket, Italy's second-tier league.[6] After one year he returned to the United States to play in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) for the Butte Daredevils, and then in the USBL for the Albany Patroons.[6] During his time with the Patroons he earned All-USBL first-team honors and was also named the league's defensive player of the year.[7][8]

Overall, Ross' professional career spanned 13 years (2005–2018) and included stops in Italy, Germany, Israel, Croatia, Greece, France, Cyprus, and Romania.[6]