When Carolina Panthers wide receiver Ted Ginn Jr. takes the field at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, for Super Bowl 50 tonight, he is not just playing for himself.
Playing in the Super Bowl for the second time in the last four years, Ginn carries with him the hopes and dreams of his hometown fans in Cleveland, those of whom who watched him wear the famous black and red uniform at Glenville High School before going on to The Ohio State University.
“When you get to the Super Bowl, you play for yourself, but you also play for a lot of people too,” Ginn said earlier this week. “A lot of people are behind you. I’m getting calls from a lot of guys. I’ve gotten calls from my buddies, my little guys that are in college. ‘Man, I’ve got the whole of Illinois rooting for you.’ ‘I’ve got this going on for you.’ ‘Bring it home to New York for us.’
“It ain’t just all about Panther Nation, but it is all about Panther Nation. We’ve got a lot of people behind you, especially back home. Football is big in Northeast Ohio, and to have a guy like me playing and even a guy like Luke (Kuechly), he’s from the south end of Ohio, Kurt Coleman from the middle end of Ohio, there’s a lot of guys that are here from Ohio that are really able to showcase their talent.”
Coming from a tough section of Cleveland, Ginn sees it as his mission to be a positive role model to the kids who are in the same position he was in a decade ago.
“It means everything to Ginn Academy, Glenville High,” Ginn said. “That’s who we are. That’s what started this thing, and just to show the kids if you keep pounding and you keep going with the strength that you’re supposed to, you get what you’re supposed to get out of it. It’s not going to be easy. There’s going to be some rough, tough pains, but at the end of the day, you’re going to have a lot of success.”
Ginn’s road back to the Super Bowl is a winding one.
After playing in Super Bowl XLVII with the San Francisco 49ers, a game in which they lost to the Baltimore Ravens by one score, Ginn’s journey took him to Carolina, where he had what was then the best year of his career with five touchdown catches, including a 47-yard score.
When Ginn moved onto Arizona in 2014, he caught only 14 passes and was released one season into his three-year contract. As soon as the release was made public, Carolina quarterbacks Derek Anderson and Cam Newton burned up the phone lines doing their best to get him back with the Panthers.
“Teddy’s been one of my favorite guys,” Anderson said with a smile during the media availability this week. “Seeing him through college and in the NFL, when we got him, I was excited. His energy is awesome, and then, when Arizona released him, I might have been one of the first guys, I texted Cam and said, ‘Hey, Arizona just released Ted. We’ve got to get him back.’
“Because of the success that we had with him and I knew the kind of guy he was, I was fired up. I’m sure Cam probably called Ted right after that and did some of our own recruiting, but that kind of shows what he means to us, what he meant to our team before he left, and it makes it something special.”
And that past success has repeated itself this year, as in 15 regular-season games, Ginn turned his 44 receptions into 739 yards and a career-best 10 touchdown catches. Then, in the postseason, Ginn gained 52 yards on two catches and another 33 on two carries, including a memorable 22-yard touchdown run that covered an estimated 90 yards in a 49-15 Panthers win over the Cardinals in the NFC Championship Game.
Although Ginn’s journey back to the Super Bowl has been winding, the Cleveland native and former first-round pick of the Miami Dolphins in the 2007 NFL Draft is grateful for everything that has helped him mature into the man he is today.
“I had good times,” Ginn said. “My whole career has been great. Yeah, it’s been a little rocky here and there, but man, I’ve enjoyed my nine years here in the NFL. I had great times. I’d been on great teams, enjoyed it with great men and great coaches. I would never take away anything from how this thing has gone because at the end of the day, I’m still here. I’m still fighting and I’m still playing.”
