Huntington News

Issue date: 7/3/07 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Photo Courtesy/NU SID Former Husky wide receiver Dan Ross went on to experience success in the pros, playing for the Bengals, Seahawks and Packers.

With NFL training camp starting at the end of the month, former Northeastern tight end Kendrick Ballantyne will look to establish his niché in the pro league with the Baltimore Ravens.

Whether Ballantyne will achieve success in the pros still remains to be seen.

But 28 years ago there was a man who roamed the gridiron from Ballantyne's tight end position who left onlookers with little doubt about his professional future. This man was the late Dan Ross, Super Bowl record setter and one of the greatest football players ever to don the red and black.

In 1979, Ross was drafted 30th overall in the second round by the Cincinnati Bengals and would go on to have a tremendously successful professional career, first with the Bengals, then later as a member of the Seattle Seahawks, Green Bay Packers and the Boston Breakers of the United States Football League.

Some of his career highlights included being named to the All-Rookie team in 1979 and the Pro Bowl in the strike-shortened 1982. However, his greatest season came in 1981, when he caught what was then a franchise record 71 catches for 910 yards and five touchdowns for the Bengals, extraordinary numbers for a tight end in the era before athletes like Tony Gonzalez and Antonio Gates redefined the position.

He would go on to even greater success in the playoffs, snaring 22 passes for 244 yards, including a Super Bowl record 11 catches for 104 yards and two scores in a 26-21 Cincinnati loss to San Francisco in Super Bowl XVI. His record has since been matched by two other players, future Hall of Famer Jerry Rice, former wide receiver for the San Francisco 49er's, and two-time Super Bowl champion Deion Branch, a wide receiver for the New England Patriots.

But before he went on to professional stardom, Ross was a standout at Northeastern, and at the time wrote the school's record books for receptions (153) and receiving yards (2,343) while establishing himself as one of the top college players in Division I-AA football. In the process, he became the only NU player ever elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2004.

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