Born in the Bronx, Rips taught troubled teens for 33 years before retiring to raise a son of his own. He won the 1995 Jerome Lowell DeJur Award for the novel "Billy's Blues." and was awarded the 2002 United States Marshals Service Certificate of Appreciation for the play 'Voices of the Missing" which was performed off-Broadway and selected for the 9/11 "Lest We Forget" Remembrance Ceremony and Black History Month Celebration. He studied poetry with Tess Gallagher and William Mathews, and writing with Raymond Carver and Frederic Tuten. His short stories, poetry and photographs have been published in 27 magazines and anthologies.