Belated honor — 01/18/10 » Editorials » Daily Independent (Ashland, KY)

Editorials

Discussion

January 15, 2010

Belated honor — 01/18/10

More than 25 years after death, Professor Ross chosen for hall

Anonymous The Daily Independent Fri Jan 15, 2010, 04:43 PM EST

The most surprising aspect of the selection of the late Robert W. Ross to the USTA Kentucky Tennis Hall of Fame is that it did not occur years ago. After all, no other individual did more to promote tennis in this community and introduce the sport to generations of young players than the man known by most as simply Professor Ross.

Ross, who died in 1984 at the age of 98, came to Ashland in 1923 to be an administrator and teacher at Booker T. Washington School. In the days before the Williams sisters and even Arthur Ashe, Ross began teaching what was then almost exclusively a “white” sport to the young black kids on the school’s playground. But the influence of Professor Ross in this community soared past racial barriers, and in his own quiet, unassuming ways, Professor Ross helped to make this a better community.

Dr. Jack Ditty, who is himself a member of the USTA Kentucky Tennis Hall of Fame, said Ross taught more than just tennis to generations of young players in Ashland.

“He didn‚t allow any bad language,” Ditty said. “You thought so highly of Professor Ross that you would not do anything disrespectful. You were there to play the best tennis you could and be the best gentlemen and ladies. He taught us manners.”

Bennie Shields, who in 2001 donated the funds to have one of the indoor courts at Ashland Tennis Center named for Ross, said Ross “chose a career of service and a retirement of service. He was not loud, or overbearing, or one who insisted on his own way. He went about life quietly, in kindness to all, and in service to the public. He was a gentleman in every since of the word.”

From 1946 to 1976, Ross taught tennis at the Ashland Ares YMCA and oversaw the tennis courts in Central Park. He offered free clinics each summer and was always willing to offer his expert advice to young players. For more than 30 years, the Ashland City Tennis Championship was named in honor of Ross.

Given Ross’s lifetime of achievement, it is no wonder that Ditty called the professor’s selection to the Kentucky Tennis Hall of Fame “long overdue.”

Overdue and most deserving. More than a quarter of a century after his death, Professor Robert W. Ross on Jan. 30 will receive an honor that should have come decades ago.

Text Only

Editorials

Charles Chattin
Before it merged with Ashland Community College to form Ashland Community and Technical College as a result of the 1997 Higher Education Reform Act, the Ashland Area Vocational-Technical School compiled an impressive record for teaching job skills to young adults and placing more than 85 percent in jobs for which they were trained.

February 10, 2012
Try again
It is time for Kentucky Speaker of the House Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, and Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, to cease playing political games and redraw district lines that are compact and are based far more on population changes during the first decade of this century than on partisan politics.

February 9, 2012
'Asset poor'
More than one in four Kentucky households are “asset poor,” meaning that they are living from paycheck to paycheck with little or no financial cushion to fall back on should they suddenly lose their jobs or have another emergency resulting in a temporary loss of or delcine in income.

February 7, 2012
Safer mines
The head of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) says coal operators throughout the country are improving their operations and, as a result, mines are becoming safer. However, MSHA chief Joe Main said too many coal operators still “don’t get it” and are continuing to cut costs by ignoring safety. That’s why MSHA plans to continue targeting mines with a history of repeated violations for additional inspections.

February 7, 2012
Not far enough
For the past three sessions of the Kentucky General Assembly, bills that would raise the minimum dropout age from 16 to 18 have been approved by the Kentucky House of Representatives by wide bipartisan margins only to die in the Senate without even a vote.
Now the Senate Education Committee has unanimously approved a dropout bill hailed as an alternative to the House bill, but it does not go nearly far enough. It is a halfway measure that would have only a limited effect on preventing teenagers from quitting high school before graduation and virtually assuring themselves of lives on the lowest rungs of the economic ladder.

February 6, 2012
Not their job
The local government committee of the Kentucky House of Representatives has wisely killed a bill — dubbed “Cooper’s Law” — that would have allowed the family of the Lexington toddler with cerebral palsy to have a playhouse on their property despite a deed restriction that apparently prohibits such structures.

February 6, 2012
Keeping FADE
Despite an increase in cost to the department, Carter County Sheriff Casey Brammell told the Carter County Fiscal Court that his department will continue to be active in the FIVCO Area Development Drug Enforcement (FADE) Task Force — at least for now.

February 4, 2012
Needed changes
The soaring enrollment that Kentucky’s community and technical colleges have experienced in recent years could come to a sudden end — or at least be slowed — as about 5,500 students in the statewide system that includes Ashalnd Community and Technical College are expected to lose their financial aid under new rules being implemented by the federal government.

February 3, 2012
Released early
While it is disappointing that 75 of the 952 prisoners granted early release in January have violated the terms of their releases, the good news is that none of the former inmates have been charged with new felonies. That’s an early, but positive, indication that the nonviolent felons released before their sentences were up have been carefully selected and are among those least likely to return to a life of crime.

February 2, 2012
Obese children
Almost a decade after former Gov. Ernie Fletcher called childhood obesity an “epidemic” in Kentucky, a majority of Kentucky adults still think that there are too many overweight children in the state and they place the bulk of the blame squarely on the shoulders of their parents.

February 1, 2012
More Editorials Headlines

Editorials

Search Results

Discussion

Belated honor — 01/18/10

More than 25 years after death, Professor Ross chosen for hall

Site Map

Contact Us