Before they ever coached together at Wyoming or won national football championships at Nebraska, Bob Devaney and Jim Ross were inextricably linked. The stabilizing force behind the late Devaney's entire coaching career, Ross died last Friday at Bryan LGH West Hospital in Lincoln. He was 94.
Devaney and Ross were inseparable all the way back to their high school coaching days in Alpena, Mich., where Ross assisted Devaney in football and Devaney assisted Ross in basketball.
What a tandem. Some nights, after basketball practice, the two would jump in a car, change clothes and drive 10 miles to referee a game so they could earn some extra money.
Just as important as donning their striped shirts were the whistles and the stopwatch in the glove compartment. Once, the stopwatch wasn't there, so they improvised, using a round tire gauge that looked like a stopwatch, but was actually a decoy to make things appear official while they resorted to their own wristwatches to "time" every part of the game.
If there were any suspicious minds in the stands, none came forward to complain.
"I guess you'd call that ingenuity today," Lincoln's Larry Honeycutt said Tuesday.
Whatever it was and whenever Ross would tell similar stories for his family, "we'd all laugh so hard, our eyes would tear up," said Honeycutt, one of three Ross sons-in-law whose families join Maurine, Jim's wife of 69 years, as survivors.
Ross: The Perfect Counterbalance to Devaney
Somehow, it seems appropriate to tell another Devaney-Ross story on the eve of Ross's funeral, especially since he's the one who held court with Devaney's former cohorts at a gathering 13 years ago following the funeral of Nebraska's Hall-of-Fame football coach and former athletic director.
Jim and Maurine Ross once went to the Devaneys for dinner in Alpena. When they arrived, they asked his wife, Phyllis, where Bob was.
In the bathroom, they were told. Ten minutes later, they asked the same question and got pretty much the same answer. Another 10 minutes passed, and Devaney was still in the bathroom with no explanation.
Finally, when Devaney emerged, Ross realized what was causing the delay. Knowing that best friends would be weighing themselves that night to see who had lost the most weight in a friendly bet, Devaney had converted his bathroom into a makeshift steam room, so he could shed another pound or two. He also ran in place just to make double-dog sure he was the winner while his dinner guests waited patiently.
Devaney, of course, won the wager, and that was just fine with Ross, who, throughout his life, was the perfect counterbalance to his boss's magnificent obsession to win.
Make no mistake, though. Ross was more than Devaney's most stabilizing force.
He was also a man's man, a war hero and a calm, cool and collected leader of young men.
In addition, Ross was the Nebraska football staff's best golfer, most notable pitch player, gifted woodworker and the one with the dry sense of humor to match every bit of Irish wit that Devaney threw his way. Oh yes, there is one more thing. Ross was also a pipe smoker, just like WWII Hero General Douglas MacArthur.
This Hero Left WW II on the Pacific Beaches
An Army Staff Sergeant in the 33rd Infantry Division in the South Pacific Campaign, Ross won the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Philippine Liberation Medal with a Bronze Battle Star, the Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal with two Bronze Battle Stars, the WWII Victory Medal, the Army Good Conduct Medal and the Bronze Star for Gallantry.
"Jim and I talked a lot about things like academics and fishing, but I don't think I ever heard him talk about his war experience, which is kind of unusual because he was so highly decorated," said Nebraska Athletic Director Tom Osborne, who will speak at a Celebration of Life service for Ross on Wednesday afternoon at First-Plymouth Congregational Church.
Husker coaches and players weren't the only ones who never heard Ross talk about WWII. Neither did his family. "He was a World War II history buff, but you could never get him to speak about it," said Honeycutt, his son-in-law. "He left the war where it was ... on the beaches in the Pacific."
Somewhat ironically, on the same weekend that Ross died, HBO launched "The Pacific," a heavily promoted 10-part HBO miniseries on WWII. Interestingly, the Ross family can learn more about the Pacific battles from that miniseries than it ever heard from one of its most decorated soldiers.
"Jim was the same way about football," Honeycutt said. "He left all that on the field, so he could focus on his family. He loved being around his six grandkids and especially enjoyed his nine great grandchildren."
"The thing that stuck out about Jim was he was a balanced person," Osborne said. "Bob trusted Jim a lot because of their long history together. Whenever something came up that was a big decision, Bob looked at Jim pretty heavily for advice. Jim was always kind of a stabilizing force. Bob had a good sense of humor and liked to laugh, but he also had a temper and occasionally got upset about something. Jim was always the first one to calm the waters when that happened."
Strong Supporter for Osborne as Devaney's Successor
The biggest kicker of all about Ross may be his influence when Devaney decided to hand-select his successor following two national championships.
The staff was loaded with future Division I head coaches at the time. Devaney had sized up the list and was definitely leaning Osborne's way. As always, he asked Ross for his opinion. Devaney's right-hand man said it wasn't even close. Tom Osborne was the best football coach on the staff and also the best man for the head coaching job.
Only in later years, in private conversations with his closest friends, did Devaney reveal the process he used to determine his successor.
"Jim was a good person," Osborne said of Ross. "He was honest. He had a certain amount of empathy for people. He had good values. When he became our freshman coach, it was a good fit for him because he was a father figure for all those freshmen players."
Wednesday, former coaches Osborne, John Melton and Carl Selmer and former Husker publicist Don "Fox" Bryant, trainer George Sullivan and longtime fan Glenn Wagner will represent this remarkable man as honorary pall bearers at his funeral. Bryant will join Osborne and grandchildren as speakers.
"The Fox" couldn't help remembering when Ross was the Huskers' secondary coach, and he got to help referee a scrimmage. "When I threw a flag for pass interference, Jim ran onto the field and overruled me," Fox said. "He said there are no interference calls when he's coaching."
Osborne chuckles at the thought. "Jim really agonized when he was our secondary coach," he recalled. "He took it personally whenever someone completed a pass."
Talented Administrator, Persuasive Friend
Sullivan said Ross was just as thorough as the first key administrator in the Bob Devaney Sports Center as he was as an assistant football coach. "Bob couldn't have had a more complete and prepared assistant," Sully said, adding that Ross was the one who talked Devaney out of a pro football head coaching job that he could have had if he'd been so inclined.
"There were good reasons why Bob would send Jim to Big Eight meetings that he couldn't attend himself," Bryant said. "He was a straight shooter, a wise man with great integrity and a true gentleman. You couldn't find anyone who didn't like and respect Jim Ross."
Yes, Ross helped shape Nebraska football history, but Melton says Devaney's trusted confidant always held one over his more famous friend.
Wind the clock all the way back to Devaney just graduating from Alma College in Michigan and Ross getting his diploma from Eastern Michigan University. Ironically, even though they had played against each other in college, they did not know that they were seeking the same high school head coaching job at Newaygo, Mich. (2000 population: 1,670).
Newaygo chose Ross over Devaney.
"Jim always told Bob that he's lucky he didn't have to compete with Jim for the Wyoming job," Melton said, laughing over the phone."He never let Bob forget that.
"Look, I've known Jim Ross since 1956, and he never talked about the war. We spent a lot of time recruiting together over the years and a lot of time just getting together as friends. I didn't know he won all those medals. He spent 3½ years over there for our country. I'm just glad he decided to come to Nebraska from Wyoming with Bob."
You can grasp the emotion in the silence of a phone connection.
Last fall, Jim and Maurine Ross attended the banquet the night before Nebraska's 300th consecutive football sellout because it honored Devaney's first team in 1962, and Ross thought it was important for him to be there.
"I just saw Jim three weeks ago in a gas station. I thought he was doing well. I'll tell you what," Melton said, his voice choking up. "This place wouldn't have been what it's been without him."
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