Dodge City Community College Athletics

Ross Bjork
Distinguished Alumni - Athletics (Football)
Induction Year: 2016

Ross Bjork was born in October, 1972 and is a native of Dodge City, graduating from Dodge City High School in 1991. He attended Dodge City Community College from 1991-93 and played football for the Conquistadors playing fullback, and earned his Associates degree. Mr. Bjork transferred to Emporia State University and started at fullback, while earning his Bachelor's degree in Recreation Administration in 1995. He completed his Master's degree in Athletic Administration in 1996 at Western Illinois University. 

During his time in the backfield for the Conquistadors he would play significantly including in 12 games his sophomore year in 1992 registering 82 carries for 387 yards with two touchdowns. 

In 1996, Ross became the assistant development coordinator for Western Kentucky University. He then moved to the University of Missouri where from 1997-2003 was the athletic development officer and assistant athletic director for development. In 2005, Mr. Bjork transferred to UCLA as a senior associate athletic director for external relations. Returning to Western Kentucky in 2010 he became the Director of Intercollegiate Athletics, effectively making him the youngest athletics director of the 120 NCAA FBS programs. After he made a mid-season coaching change, Western Kentucky's men's basketball team went on to capture the 2012 Sun Belt Conference Tournament title and advance to the second round of the NCAA tournament. Women's volleyball won conference seasons and tournaments, while men's and women's cross country each won conference titles. WKU football posted the greatest one-season improvement in conference wins in the history of the Sun Belt and signed the conference's top recruiting class for two years. For the first time in program history, the overall cumulative average GPA was over 3.0 for all 391 student-athletes (228 maintained a GPA of 3.0 or higher).

In 2012, Mr. Bjork became the seventh full-time Director of Athletics at Ole Miss and at the time was the youngest AD among Power Five conference institutions. In October 2016, he was named the Universities first Vice Chancellor for Intercollegiate Athletics. Mr. Bjork reorganized the external relations structure of the department and rebranded the Ole Miss Athletics Foundation. Baseball, men's basketball, and softball were among Rebel programs to earn NCAA berths under his watch, along with soccer (Sweet 16 in 2015), men's tennis, women's tennis, men's golf, women's golf, men's track, and women's track. His tenure saw six National championships and the athletic programs achieved and maintained his goal of a cumulative 3.0 GPA. He also represented the SEC on the NCAA men's basketball oversight committed and the NCAA transfer working group. 

Bjork in July 2019 made the move to Texas A&M where he became their Director of Athletics. Aggie athletic programs have continued his academic goal of a cumulative 3.0 GPA, while the football program in 2020 won the Capital One Orange Bowl and finished the season ranked #4. Women's basketball and women's soccer each won SEC championships and women's track and field earned a NCAA runner-up finish at indoor and outdoor national meets, while several other Top 10 finishes have been accomplished by other sports.