A Tribute to Darren Ross - September 16, 2023

Darren Ross loved the Salamanca Warriors. Growing up in Salamanca, Darren excelled in every sport he played from a young age, from the backyard fields of East State street to the little league fields of Crowley Park he was well known throughout the community. As he progressed into High school athletics, so did his reputation as a Warrior Athlete. Rare in those days, Darren started as a sophomore for the football, basketball, and baseball teams and immediately made an impact. When you played with Darren Ross, you always had a chance to win and even when you didn’t, the other team knew they were in for a fight. His years playing sports in Salamanca from 1995-1998 were some of the most successful in Warrior History, from Sectional Championships, to League Titles, and an undefeated basketball season, Darren left his mark on Warrior history.
However, is greatest mark on our community would come later in life as he took on a new fight. Darren tackled cancer the same way he tackled everything, with courage, ease, resilience, and confidence. His fight against Glioblastoma, which is an aggressive form of brain cancer, was nothing short of heroic and created true meaning to what became of the term Ross Strong. Throughout his fight, he was still active in our community as a teacher and coach in our district. His day-to-day job was as a counselor for our intermediate students where he would perform countless “check-ins” to make sure his students were having good days and were on the right track. This would poor over into the after-school hours and into weekends as he was so visible and present in our community. You would never have been able to tell that Darren was battling this horrible cancer with a 12-18 month diagnosis, because he never wavered or complained and went about his life with a passion that was truly inspirational. Darren went on to fight for 4 years and 3 months, embodying everything we can hope to be as Husbands, Fathers, sons, brothers, friends, teachers, coaches, and community members. The term Warrior takes on many meanings and has a special place in our hearts, I cannot think of a better definition of Darren Ross. As a community, our thoughts and prayers are with the Ross Family.
#RossStrong