By GEORGE O’GORMAN
Staff Writer

HAMILTON — An era ended at Hamilton High last week.

A 48-year run as a teacher, coach and guidance counselor who effected the lives of three generations of Hamiltonians in more ways than even he can admit.

Charley Ross has retired at Hamilton High, ending an amazing run that began when he came here in 1962 to play for the Trenton Colonials pro basketball team, and soon could be found teaching the fundamentals of the game to hundreds of boys as the Hornets head coach.

“Those are some of my greatest memories,” Ross said as he reflected on a career in athletics that made him a sports icon in this area unlike few we’ve ever seen.

As coach of Hamilton’s boys basketball team for 18 seasons he won 258 games against some of the toughest competition any school in the state had to face. He would later coach the Mercer County Community College women’s program, serve as assistant at Princeton Day School, as assistant coach for a state champion Hamilton High softball team, and finally as the girls basketball coach for a brief spell at Hamilton.

Every program he was associated with was a class group, mainly because it inherited it’s coach’s personality and showed class continuously.

Ross loves telling the story of how he came to Mercer County when he was acquired in a trade between the Colonials and the Easton Madisons, who were his hometown team in the great Eastern Basketball League days.

Chick Craig, the Madison’s coach, was hired by Trenton and his first deal was to acquire Ross, who had been a star player and top scorer at Lafayette.

“In my first game with the Colonials I scored 32 points against the Allentown Jets, who were the league champs,” recalls Ross. “I guess it was a great way to start.”

Those were great days for basketball in Trenton because the NBA was a lot smaller and many of the pro teams did not sign Negro players. That put basketball magicians like Wally Choice, Stacy Arcenaux, Bob Love, John Chaney and Walter Dukes in the EBL — players Ross either played against or alongside. Continued...

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It would take hours to recant the names of the EBL greats, and Ross could do it easily.

The Colonials packed Trenton High’s gym on Sunday nights, and Ross’ fame quickly grew.

It also grew as a coach with the success of his early Hornet teams. “I had three interviews for coaching jobs when I came to Trenton, and I learned that Hamilton had a good group of young players coming up to the varsity,” he recalls.

Those promising young players include Jack Bell and the late Bob Goleniecki, who would lead Ross’ first team and begin a hoops renaissance at Hamilton.

Led by players like Mike Ellis, Ron Muse, Troy Stevenson to name a few, the Hornets were one of the most respected teams in Central Jersey. When Ross retired following the 1979-80 season after consecutive 19-8, 24-4 and 16-8 seasons his first Hamilton all-stater — Jack Bell — succeeded him as coach.

While many schools around the state have honored their great coaches by naming gyms, fields, or stadiums in their honor, the powers to be in Hamilton never gave Charley Ross the honor he deserved.

Maybe someday they will, because no one in the 80-year history of Hamilton High deserves that kind of salute.

Ross, who amazingly has remained as youthful-looking and athletically-skilled as he was the day he made his famous crossing of the Delaware, doesn’t rule out the possibility of returning to coaching some day.

But right now his No. 1 priority is to continue in his role as the general manager of Yardville Swim Club at Switlik Park, no doubt helping parents who he served as their guidance counselor when they were Hamilton students.

Ross was recently honored by being mentioned in a book authored by former Princeton University coach Pete Carril, who was his junior varisty coach in the late 1950s at Easton High. Continued...

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“Coach Carril taught me so much about basketball, not just the fundamentals of the game, but about sportsmanship and being a caring and dedicated coach,” said Ross.

Charley Ross carried those lessons into his own coaching career, and for 48 years at Hamilton High showed his students and athletes what was needed to be a success in life.

While some of his colleagues may have come to take Charley Ross for granted, countless others throughout Mercer County consider themselves lucky we got the best part of the most famous trade in Trenton basketball history.

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