Pops

I would like to give a birthday shout out to my dad, Arrington “A-Town” Ross. That man and I have been through so much together over the last twenty years, it’s completely insane. When I was born my parents had just graduated from high school, and my father was going off to play football at Trinity Valley Community College in hopes of going to play Division I football within the next couple years. Therefore, my mother was on her own for a little while. She did more than anyone could ever do for their child, she broke her back constantly just to make sure I had everything that I wanted, as long as I kept my grades up. She put my father on child support, simply because sometimes, it was just too much for her to handle. Though he really wasn’t around much during my younger days, my dad did his best to make sure that he was a part of my life as much as he could be while he was juggling football with school and being a parent. After his second year of JUCO, he received a scholarship to play football at the University of Alabama; which meant that he was going to be even further away from my mother and I. This made the relationship extremely difficult, my mother became somewhat bitter towards my dad, saying that he was selfish for leaving; but she had no idea what could have happened once he was finished with school. He could have been drafted to the NFL and made millions, but she wasn’t trying to hear it. Once my dad was in Alabama, I was lucky if I saw him once a month. He was always busy, but the work paid off. After his senior season he was a prospective NFL draftee, so he was traveling around the country working out for different teams in hopes of being called back to practice.

    One summer when he was home for a week, my father decided to go play some pickup basketball with some of his homeboys at the local recreation center; let’s just  say that was not the smartest idea he ever came up with. Before the day was over, he was in the hospital with a torn Achilles, right then and there, his football career and dreams were over. Dad was devastated. He had no idea what he was going to do for the rest of his life because he had his mind set on football, and nothing else. This situation made things between my parents even more difficult because not only was my mom bitter toward him because he left, he was bitter towards her because he didn’t know how he was going to be able to provide for me. After my father finally got over the situation, he decided to stay in college and graduate, which was the best decision he ever could have made. I applaud him for the obstacles he has overcame because he could have easily given up, but he decided to stick with it. He knew that it would pay off in the long run, and truly has.