LOW MOOR — As a starter on Alleghany High School’s championship basketball teams after Alleghany County High School and Clifton Forge High School consolidated in 1983, Dwayne “Jap” Ross listened to “Eye of the Tiger” before games.
“Eye of the Tiger,” the theme song for “Rocky,” had been played before consolidation took place as Alleghany County High School’s football team took the field at home against Covington High School’s Cougars.
Ross, a guard who also played tackle, won three varsity letters in football and three in basketball as a Mountaineer.
Nearly 40 years later, Ross has risen as a champion of secondary education, having advanced from his position as principal of AHS where he served from 2014 till the end of January when he assumed the duties of his current position, director of secondary instruction.
Born in New Haven, Conn., in August of 1969, he was given his nickname, “Jap,” by Charles Lee, his uncle who looked at Ross as a baby, and said, “He looks like a “Jap.”
Using hyperbole, Ross remarked, “I had about 5,000 cousins, and as I grew up, all of them kept calling me, “Jap.”
The nickname stuck, and from the heroics of his athletic days at AHS when he helped the varsity basketball team win back to back Blue Ridge District championships under Jimmy Smith as head coach to his graduation from VMI in 1992, Ross excelled as a student, earning his Bachelor of Arts degree in history.
After he served as an insurance agent for a short time, he decided that sales was not a career he wished to pursue.
While shooting basketball at AHS, he was offered the opportunity to sign on as a teacher and coach at AHS. That was in 1992, and he became an assistant football coach for the Mountaineers’ JV football team and an assistant track coach under Gary Childs. Later on, he became an assistant basketball coach as well.
While working at Boys’ Home of Virginia as the director of the Alternative School that served students from CHS and AHS, Ross continued his education, and in 2002 he earned his Master of Arts degree in school administration at James Madison University. Additionally, he has taken many courses at Dabney S. Lancaster Community College, University of Virginia and Virginia Tech.
As for the way Ross came to live in Clifton Forge, he remembered, “My grandfather, James “NeBo” Ross passed away, and my mom moved to Clifton Forge to be with Rosa B. Ross, my grandmother.”
He noted that his family had moved frequently from one place to another, and he quipped, “I actually attended second grade twice in Richmond.”
After transitioning from coaching and teaching to working as an administrator at AHS, Ross spent 12 years as an assistant principal before becoming principal of AHS in 2014.
As for his years as principal, Ross noted, “Trying to make sure everyone had what they needed to be successful was my greatest challenge and reward.”
He considers one of his greatest accomplishments as principal was helping at risk students graduate, ones that he had great concern for when they entered high school and some he continued to have concern for at times along the way.
Also, he considers motivating both staff and students to pursue problem based learning by implementing an approach that led to establishing better collaboration to be one of his accomplishments as well. He believes that his motivational approach that assisted both students and teachers to achieve desirable outcomes led both to greater success in becoming more confident in their pursuits.
Having experienced consolidation during his high school days as both a student and athlete, Ross offered, “Consolidation is long, long overdue, and I wish that it had been done when Alleghany and Clifton Forge consolidated.”
Had CHS joined ACHS and CFHS in 1983, the three schools joining forces as one would have obviously resulted in fielding stronger athletic teams. Ross observed, “I can only imagine how good we would have been in athletics and academics.”
Ross and his wife, Tawnya West Ross, have two children in their home, Isaiah, seven; and Amialya, 10.
Tawnya is the owner and operator of Family Treets Restaurant located across the street from the Alleghany County Public Schools’ administration building in Low Moor that houses the school board office, and she operates the Café located on Dabney S. Lancaster Community College’s campus. She provides a catering service as part of her business as well.
Her Family Treets Restaurant and Café’s menus offer a wide variety of country-style dishes in addition to fish sandwiches and fish dinners that have become the most popular items on the menus.
Dwayne shared the goal that he has set for his new position, “I hope to be better tomorrow than I am today at helping others reach their greatest potential.”
As for dealing with COVID-19, he said that he is working hard to help students stay in school and make sure they are working to improve their education.
As for the success that AHS recently has had in winning the school’s first state championship, one in boys cross country, Dwayne concluded, “A lot of great athletes and coaches along with people in the community motivating everyone to work harder in order to be better has been the key to our Mountaineers and community’s success.”
As for “Rocky,” Dwayne continues to enjoy watching reruns of the movie and listening to “Eye of the Tiger.”
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