Ross Competed Long Ago Trivia Quiz

Answer: Melbourne

During 142 games, Richard John Ross scored 30 goals in total. He was especially effective against Melbourne, scoring 12 goals in 16 matches. Ross stayed with Collingwood for all of his career (1931-1940), but did only score for his team in the first half of his career: nine goals in 9 games in 1931 (including three goals against Melbourne), eleven goals in 12 games in 1932 (including seven goals against Melbourne in two games), two goals in 1933 (one against Melbourne), five goals in 1934 (including one against Melbourne) and three goals in 1935. Pittsburgh (USA), Manchester (UK) and Neath (Wales) don't have any teams in Australian Rules Football.

Answer: Golf

Although Alec Ross was born in Scotland, home of the very first golf course in the world, he did not compete in any major tournament held in Scotland.
Alec Ross was one of the pioneers in professional golf. In 1899 he and his elder brother Donald (1872-1949) moved to the USA. Donald gained fame as golf course architect, while Alec won several tournaments between 1902 and 1927. Alec's greatest success was his victory at the US Open in 1907, a year in which he also won two other American tournaments.
The US Open (golf) was organized in different locations in the USA since 1898 in the same formula: four days of an 18 hole competition. Up till 1911 Scotland dominated the US Open, with Alec Ross taking home the ninth victory for Scotland in ten years.
As for the red herrings: The US Open Polo was not held in 1907. The first US Open Polo championship was in 1904, but the second only in 1910. The US Open Chess Championship was held annually since 1900. In 1907 the American player from Danish descent Einar Michelsen claimed his only title. In the US Open Tennis, William Lamed won his third of seven titles in 1907.

Answer: Rowing

Sir Alexander Ross did only once win a medal for New Zealand at an important international rowing competition. In the Commonwealth Games 1930, the coxless fours Berry Johnson, Vic Olsson, Alexander Ross (then competing under his shortened name Alex Ross) and Charley Saunders claimed the bronze medal, after England and Canada.

Alexander Ross would gain more fame as a banker, most notably as deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and chairman of the United Dominions Trust and of the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group.
But even as a banker, he kept in touch with the sport he practised in his younger years. He selected the rowers for several international events and coached the New Zealand team at the Commonwealth Games in 1954. The words "steered" and "tides" had to point you in the correct direction.

Answer: 3,000m steeplechase

Harris Browning Ross chose running as an alternative sport, after having tried baseball and/or pole vaulting (sources differ). After his military service, he enrolled at Villanova University and was one of the outstanding runners for his school. In 1948 Ross competed at the London Olympics in the 3,000m steeplechase, qualifying for the final.

In 1952 he competed in the same event at the Helsinki Olympics, but a strained ankle prevented him to qualify for the finals. Ross had his best result at the Pan-American Games of 1951, winning the 1,500 m and finishing second in the 3,000m steeple chase.

After his running career, Ross edited a magazine named "The Long distance Runner". I've added the last sentence as a clear hint to the water jump only available in the steeple chase.

Answer: New York Giants

George Ross was born in California, but moved to New York. As he played only one single game, information on his (extremely short) career is quite scarce. Apparently the Giants acquired Ross and Ed Sicking from the minor league team San Antonio Missions in 1918. Ross was a left-handed pitcher. Tampa Bay Rays (Florida) were established in 1998.

The Blue Jays debuted in 1977. Kansas City Royals was established in 1969. So none of these teams could have contracted George Ross.

Answer: Gymnastics

The team events for gymnastics in the first Olympic Games were quite different than the format since 1920. All-round gymnastics first appeared in 1904 at the Olympic programme, and from 1920 onwards the team results were the sum of the results of a set number of individual competitors in the qualifying round. But in 1908 and 1912 the complete team (16 to 40 men, and perhaps even more) would march in and perform simultaneous exercises - either floor exercises or exercises on apparatus.

In 1908 the rules were based upon the Swedish gymnastic style. Sweden won gold, Norway claimed the silver and Finland took the bronze. Great-Britain ended last of all eight competing countries. In 1912 there were three all-round team events: one in the Swedish style, one in the German style (with the use of apparatus and more aimed at force) and one in the free style (combining both styles). Great-Britain entered the German style competition and claimed the bronze medal, after Italy and Hungary, but preceding Luxembourg and Germany (which showed up with what we would call a B-team: the best team of the country did not compete).

Answer: Cycling

Ken Ross joined the Parramatta cycling club in 1917 and won the club championship that same year. He excelled in six-day racing events, winning thrice at the Sydney velodrome: in 1922 with George Hammond, in 1925 with George Dempsey and in 1927 with Jack Fitzgerald. Ross also entered a few six-days competitions in Europe, but most of the time he raced in Australia.
In 1928 Ken Ross won the one-day road cycling competition Goulburn - Sydney, over a distance of about 220 km.

Answer: Water polo

Ten countries entered the water polo competition at the Melbourne Summer Olympics of 1956. In a preliminary round, three groups of three or four teams played in a round robin system. Romania, Australia, Great-Britain and Singapore were thus eliminated, and the final round was scheduled as a round robin with Hungary (the top favourites), the USA, Italy, Germany, the USSR and Yugoslavia. When the ninth match (Hungary - USSR) started, the USA had already played all their matches, winning only against Germany and losing to all the others. Hungary had already won the first three games and soon took the lead against the USSR.

But because the game was more street brawling than effective water polo, the referee stopped the match at 4-0, which was deemed the final score. Hungary would also win its last game against Yugoslavia, thus winning the gold medal. Yugoslavia took silver, and the USSR bronze.

The USA team ended fifth. William Ross and Robert Frojen played six out of the seven games for the USA.

Answer: Ice Hockey

James (nicknamed Jim) Ross grew up in Toronto. According to some sources he played from 1944 until 1955 with the New York Rangers, but the detailed statistics are more nuanced. The Internet Hockey Database states that Jim Ross started in the International Hockey League, a minor league, in 1947-48 and 1948-49, for two different teams based in Detroit.

In the season 1949-1950 he played in a junior league for Regina. Then he played for two different teams in an amateur league, before his debut at the NHL in the season 1951-52.

At the end of this season he briefly played in the lower division American Hockey League. In 1952-1953 he started in the lower division Western Hockey League (WHL), before a second period in the NHL. He ended his career back in the WHL. Jim Ross played in the NHL only for the New York Rangers, where he appeared 62 times as a defensive player.

In 1955-56 he briefly coached the Saskatoon Quakers, the team where he spent three seasons.

Answer: Score a hat-trick in soccer

Tommy Ross was a soccer player. In 1961 he debuted in the Highland League (a lower division in the Scottish competition) for Ross County, where he lived. November 28, 1964 was the day of his greatest triumph: in 90 seconds time he scored thrice against Nairn county, thus completing the fastest hat-trick at that moment.

It took the "Guinness Book of World Records" forty years to verify this claim, but when the record was validated in 2004, it still stood firmly. Ross would change teams in 1965, playing consecutively for Peterborough United, York City, Wigan Athletic, Rossendale Rangers and Brora Rangers - teams from Scotland or the northern regions of England. Later on he would coach his hometown team Tain St. Duthuis, a team that would be managed since 2016 by Tommy's sons Stuart and Andrew.