Sue Ross, Class of 2011

Sue Ross was inducted into the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges Sports Hall of Fame in the class of 2011.

Barbara Ann “Sue” Ross, a Gautier native, attended Perk from 1953 to 1955, and in 1954 was named Perk's Most Athletic Woman. During her years at Perk, she played basketball and was a member of the 1955 state championship team in tennis.

After graduation she attended Mississippi Southern College, where she received the Women's Overall Intramural Award in 1957. She graduated from Mississippi Southern in 1957 and spent the next two years teaching for the Houston (Texas) Independent School District.

In 1960 she returned to Perk as a physical education instructor. At that time, she became involved in the movement to resurrect state level women's competitive sports, which had been eliminated in fall 1955.

In 1963, the administration of MGCJC officially named her as a "coach," a title she would retain until 1979. In 16 years as a coach, Ross’ women’s teams won two tennis, one volleyball and four basketball state championships.

In addition, her basketball teams took one national title, one runner-up national spot, a seventh-place national ranking and two regional championships.

Ross also served as the junior college representative to Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women District III from 1971 to 1975. She was the only junior college women's basketball coach chosen to serve on the selection committee charged with determining the players and coaches of the 1974 World University Games.

In 1976 she was named assistant coach for the Women's South Basketball Team for the first National Sports Festival in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

From 1977 to 1986 she served in succession as the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) women's director for Region VII and Region XXIII. From 1980 to 1984 she served as the NJCAA representative to the Amateur Basketball Association of the United States of America for the purpose of selecting the 1984 Olympics women's basketball team and coaches.

In 1979, Ross transferred to the Jackson County Campus of MGCCC and served as the intramural director of that campus until her retirement in May 1991.

In mid-December 2000, NJCAA officials notified Ross that she would be inducted into the NJCAA Hall of Fame on March 19, 2001. She was the first Mississippi community college women’s basketball coach selected for that honor.