CLEVELAND — Like father, like son.
While Ted Ginn Sr. coaches the Glenville Tarblooders through the playoffs, Ted Ginn Jr. is helping coach the Ginn Elite Youth Football teams. Multiple squads ages 8-14 practice under the lights at Bump Taylor Stadium, the same field in Glenville where Ginn Jr. grew up playing on.
"This is a million-dollar field to me," Ginn Jr. says. "You know, this is gold, and as much as we can keep the right people here and doing the right things on it, it can continue to shine.
"We've got lights now, you know? And that's a big thing."
Lessons Ginn Jr. learned playing at Bump Taylor Stadium took him to an All-American career at Ohio State and a 14-year NFL career. Now, he's hoping to use the game he loves to give back to the community he loves.
"Without this game, you know, we get more sirens," he explained. "We get more car thefts, you know? We get more kids just getting [themselves] into bad things or bad trouble for no reason, just because they don't have a hub like this. So I just try to create this hub and keep them as long as I can."
Four of the Ginn Elite Youth teams will play for regional championships this weekend. They've had the opportunity to travel all over the country representing the city of Cleveland, and Ginn Jr. is hoping the city of Cleveland will support them.
"Being able to show these kids the world is the biggest blessing that I have, you know?" he said. "We're just trying our hardest just to come out and continue to do right towards them, but we actually need our community, we need our state, to just really come out and give these kids the dream that they're looking for."
Those wishing to donate to help the Ginn Elite programs can do so by logging on to GinnFoundation.org.