George Ross, an Oakland Tribune sports editor in the 1960s and 1970s who played a prominent role in transforming Oakland into a major league sports city, died peacefully Saturday night in a Portola care home in the Sierra foothills. He was 98.
His name may be unrecognizable to a current generation of Oakland sports fans, but Ross was instrumental in getting the Coliseum Complex built -- he was invited to dig the first hole himself -- and he either personally recruited or nurtured the Raiders, the A's and the Warriors as Oakland tenants."He meant a lot to Oakland," said George Vukasin, former president of the Coliseum board of directors.