Henry Hoover Ross, Jr. was born to Willie Mae and Henry H. Ross of Birmingham, Alabama on May 30, 1956. While in high school, Henry was an outstanding student-athlete in football and received All-American status as a running back. After graduating from A. H. Parker High School in 1974, Henry received an athletic scholarship and enrolled at Kentucky State University (Frankfort, Kentucky) where he completed his Bachelor of Science Degree in Health and Physical Education in 1978.
While at KSU, Henry received numerous awards and citations. Some of which included, Academic Honor Student, Outstanding Young Men of America, America’s Outstanding Names and Faces, Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges, and Two-Time NAIA (Football) All-American. From August 1978 through May 1979, he was employed as a teacher and coach at Lemon-Monroe High School in Middletown, Ohio.
In 1981, Henry graduated from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale with the Master of Science Degree in Education (Physical Education). Henry began his college teaching and college football coaching career in 1981 at his alma mater, Kentucky State University.
In 1985 he accepted a teaching position in the Department of Health and Physical Education and a football coaching position at East Texas State University and moved to Commerce, Texas. In 1990 he helped to guide the East Texas State University football team to the Lone Star Conference Championship and to the Quarter Finals of the National Collegiate Athletic Association football playoff. In 1999 he retired from coaching and began course work toward a doctoral degree. He completed his Doctor of Education degree in Curriculum and Instruction in December, 2007 from Texas A&M University-Commerce as was the interim department head for Health and Human Performance from July 2008 until July 2011.
In December 2008, Henry received the Texas Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance award for College/University Health Educator of the Year and in October 2010, Henry was inducted into the Kentucky State University, Athletic Hall of Fame.
During his tenure at A&M-Commerce, Henry has served on numerous university, college, department, and state committees. Henry’s most recent publication includes a chapter in the following text:
Ross, H. H. (2010). Concerns of African American Faculty Employed at Predominantly White, Doctoral Extensive Universities. In S. Moore, A. Rudolph, Jr., & A.J. Lemelle, Jr. (Eds.), Dilemmas of Black Faculty at U.S. Predominantly White Institutions: Issues of the Post-Multicultural Era (pp. 339-364). Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press
Henry is married Dr. Ilse Y. Rickets, professor of microbiology at Georgia Perimeter College, Atlanta, Georgia. He continues in his position as an instructor and academic advisor in the Department of Health and Human Performance at Texas A&M University-Commerce.