Few questioned Ross Allen Maxwells dedication to Texas A&M. Despite being diagnosed with a stage-four brain cancer, Ross made sure to attend every football game that he could.
This past fall, he was going under radiation treatment and even after surgeries for a brain tumor, he still made it to every single home game except the first one, which he watched in the ICU, said Rosss sister Savannah Maxwell, a freshman political science major. He spent all of his time being an Aggie.
12th Man Kickoff Team Foundations named Ross an honorary member and made a jersey with his name.
Rosss friend Daniel Suda, a senior psychology major, said Ross epitomized the spirit of the 12th Man.
I have never known anyone who cared so much about Aggie sports as Ross did, he said. Even this last semester while undergoing chemotherapy and having little to no voice. He was at the games and screaming as loud as he could, and he would even stand as long as he physically could, just doing everything he could to help support the team.
Along with going to games after treatment, Ross continued attending classes, maintaining good grades. Ross spent most of his time on schoolwork as an industrial distribution major.
The year after his second brain surgery, he would go back and take a test and still score a higher score than everyone else, said Sarah Maxwell, Rosss mother. He was very dedicated to school and to A&M.
Savannah said her brother never had a bad thing to say during treatments.
He just wanted to focus on school because his ultimate goal was to graduate, she said.
A memorial was held on campus in honor of Ross. More than 170 people attended. In his hometown of Del Rio, Texas, about 200 people attended his memorial.
Theres been a lot of support from his friends and lots of people have been reaching out in case we need support, Savannah said.
Ross was a people-person. He majored in industrial distribution because he liked the technical side as well as the prospect of sales. Although Ross wasnt able to complete his senior year, hell still be awarded his degree.
Its great because he was in his last semester and he finished most of his work for his degree, Sarah said.
In his free time, Ross liked to play golf. He was outgoing and could approach anyone and talk to them about anything.
He was very kind, smart and great to be around, Savannah said. He was an all-around good guy and theres not a single person that had a bad word to say about him.
Savannah said Ross embodied everything an Aggie stood for.
If you put all the values of an Aggie into a person, you would get Ross, she said.