Ted Ginn Sr. Devotes Life to Helping Kids at Glenville High School

Ted Ginn Sr. is one of the most improbable, yet remarkable, coaches in the United States. Last year, Ginn led his alma mater – Glenville High School in inner city Cleveland – to its first Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) state championship – and also the first football title for a team from Cleveland’s (city) Senate League. The state title improved his record to 240-60 in a 25-year career that began in 1997.

After serving as a security guard, volunteer assistant coach and paid assistant coach at Glenville for 23 years following his high school graduation, Ginn was named head coach in 1997 despite not having a college degree or teaching certifications. To say he excelled without those qualifications would be an understatement. By addressing issues such as life skills, academic requirements, study halls and other issues, Ginn turned around the program and became the first public school from Cleveland to qualify for the OHSAA playoffs and now the first to win a state title. He has had only one losing season in 25 years and has qualified for the playoffs 19 of 25 years.

Ginn has achieved equal or larger success as the school’s track and field coach. He was named the NFHS Track and Field Coach of the Year for 2021-22 after leading Glenville to its 17th state championship. More than 20 of Ginn’s football players have reached the NFL, including Marshon Lattimore, Frank Clark, Donte Whitner, Coby Bryant, Troy Smith and his son, Ted Ginn Jr.

This summer at the NFHS Summer Meeting in Seattle, Ginn was inducted into the National High School Hall of Fame. A few weeks later, Ginn was inducted into the inaugural class of the National High School Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

Question: You earned your diploma from Glenville High School in 1974. Tell us about your years in high school. Did you play football or any other sports?

Ginn: “When I was in high school, it was the best years of my life. Back then, the community was still intact. We had a lot of neighborhood joy and love. It was just about Glenville. It was about our community. I knew exactly when I came into high school what I was going to do when I left, and that’s huge because that’s some of the problems today. Many of the young people don’t have any direction. Everything that I do in my life today is based on graduating from Glenville. I’ve been working in Glenville ever since. The two years I played varsity I was a center, and I played linebacker. I was known as the party starter. I was the center - nothing goes without the center. I was 143 pounds. People used to laugh at me. They would say, ‘What position you play?’ I said, ‘Center, I get the party started.’”

Question: So, in 1997, you were named head football coach at your alma mater with no college degree and no head coaching experience. How did that happen?

Ginn: “I volunteered for 10 years without getting paid. And after that, I started being a paid assistant, but I was still working in industry. I was getting paid from ‘86 to ‘97 and in ‘97 I became head coach. I didn’t want that either. They made me be the coach, you know. And then I found out the power of being a coach and the power of being a mentor to children. And I saw the influence that I had on the kids. So, I took a football really, and made a business out of saving lives, you know. So, that’s how I got into it and I’ve been in it ever since.”

Question: What were some of the changes you implemented at Glenville to turn around the program?

Ginn: “Well, first of all, you have to make the kids believe that they can achieve. Nobody really had that type of expectation of being undefeated, or going to college, and it’s been great. I changed that mentality. And because I couldn’t believe that we couldn’t achieve, you know, and then with the spiritual base of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, it kind of all came together. But the main thing is loving the kids and empowering them to be great. And once we got that success, they believed it. And we’ve been rolling ever since.”

Question: So, since you took over, you have had only one losing season in 25 years. How have you done this?

Ginn: “Since I’ve been here as head coach for 25 years, I’ve lost one game in the league. I base that just from being organized, loving the kids, and having an expectation for the kids. You know, and when I’m playing in the league, and maybe don’t have that, I’ve just been successful due to God’s grace, that’s all it is. We spend 90 percent of our time in chapel or in class, not on the field, making them believe that they can achieve, and I think all that was key to us winning the state title and knowing that we could be the first ever to do it.”

Question: What are your thoughts about being honored with induction into the National High School Hall of Fame?

Ginn: “If you know anything about me, my joy comes from other people. I mean I’m appreciative of going into the hall of fame, but that’s not my destiny. My destiny is loving kids, loving people and continuing to save lives and give people opportunities. But you know, I appreciate the honor, but what if I get all honors and lose a soul, how’s that? So, I’m thankful.”