Don Gross was a familiar voice to Joplin-area audiences for over 50 years. His voice and style of play-by-play announcing established his identity as the "Voice of the Lions," at the institution then known as Joplin Junior College and later Missouri Southern State College. He also broadcast baseball games for the Joplin Miners, a class-C New York Yankees farm club with a young player from Commerce, Oklahoma named Mickey Mantle. Gross worked as sports director for KFSB radio. He later became sports director for KODE-TV and news director for KSNF-TV.