Jeff Kowalsky / AFP via Getty Images
Bobby Ross has one more game he is trying to win.
The longtime NFL and college football coach told to USA Today he was battling chronic lymphocytic leukemia at age 88.
Ross, who coached the then-San Diego Chargers to Super Bowl XXIX in 1994, spent his final four NFL seasons head coaching the Detroit Lions.
He took over for Wayne Fontes in 1997 and led the Lions to the playoffs in his first season before they fell to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 20-10.
Ross then coached Detroit to the postseason in 1999, going 8-8 despite Barry Sanders’ retirement late in the preseason, but it fell to the Washington Commanders 27-13 — it was Detroit’s last playoff game until 2011.
He was 27-30 in 57 games in nine seasons as Lions coach before he resigned midseason in 2000. He went 74-63 in nine seasons as NFL coach and was 103-101-2 in 206 games as a head coach in college.
What Kind of Cancer Does Bobby Ross Have?
According to the American Cancer Society, CLL is “very hard to cure, but most people can live with the disease for many years or even decades.
“Some people with CLL can live for years without treatment, but over time, most will need some type of treatment. Most people with CLL are treated on and off for years. Treatment may stop for a while, but it might never really end.”
So even though Ross is in his late-80s, and a leukemia diagnosis sounds like a death sentence, Ross said that may not necessarily be the case.
“It is a form of cancer, but it’s not usually thought of as a serious one,” Ross told USA Today Sports.
“But if your lymph nodes start to grow… then you’ve got to be careful. That’s where I am right now.”
Ross was the head coach of Georgia Tech in 1990 when it split the national championship with the University of Colorado — one of his four college-football coaching stops, which included The Citadel, the University of Maryland and the United States Military Academy.
Coincidentally, Ross will be watching his former team and the team it shared the national title with play this weekend when the Yellow Jackets go west to Boulder, Colorado for the schools’ first-ever meeting — they will cap the home-and-home series when they play in Atlanta next year.
Ross said he wouldn’t miss the game.
“Oh, for sure,” Ross said. “I’ll watch it. I sure will.”
Though Ross will be rooting for Georgia Tech, he has Colorado coach Deion Sanders in his thoughts, since news of the Colorado coach’s bladder cancer surfaced this off-season.
“It’ll be interesting to see,” Ross said. “I hope Deion Sanders recovers from his illness. That’s sad. I hope he can get through that.”
What Is Bobby Ross Doing Now?
According to USA Today, Ross and his wife Alice are living the retired life in Richmond, Virginia where they have since Ross from from coaching at Army.
Aside from his own cancer, Alice also had a cancerous growth removed earlier this year.
“It’s been a rough winter for us health-wise,” Ross said.
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