Clarence Ross was born on 1923 in Oakland, California. He was the second of four children. When his mother died at a young age he was placed in foster care, leading him to grow up in a series of foster homes. He got into bodybuilding at 17.
After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor he enlisted in the Air Force and was stationed in Las Vegas, where he would meet and marry his wife. During this time he continued bodybuilding, and in 1945 he entered and won the AAU MR AMERICA contest in LA. This led him to get noticed and he began getting booked to cover numerous Physique magazines. In November of 1945 he left the Air Force and opened his own gym in Alameda, CA.
He continued to bodybuild for his own personal interests at his own gym and in 1948 decided to enter the world of bodybuilding competitions again. In 1948 he won Mr. USA, beating Steve Reeves (this was a big deal at the time). In 1949 he decided to defend his title but placed second place to John Grimek, but still finished ahead of Steve Reeves, making him one of only two people to ever place ahead of Steve Reeves more than once.
He didn’t enter anymore bodybuilding comps until 1955, when he decided to make a comeback in London. He didn’t win the title.
In 1976 he opened a bodybuilding gym in Walnut Creek, CA. He ran it until 1981 and then sold it to one of the Gold’s Gym owners.
He died on April 30, 2008 at 84 years old.