What is a Tarblooder?

The Glenville Tarblooders football team had a pretty epic season this year. Most of you know that Ted Ginn, Sr. has been Glenville's head coach since 1997. The team is well-known nationally for its prowess on the field and its athletes that populate university rosters from coast to coast.

We'd like to wrap up the season with photos that begin in August and end on a very snowy night in Canton in December. We'll share the lessons learned along the way and introduce some of the many dedicated men who lead the team with faith and conviction.

Whether you're from near or far, many of you might wonder, what is a Tarblooder? This flyer is posted in Family Sports in Euclid and explains where the name came from. Our Tarblooders are young men of faith, perseverance, and fierce hard work. One loss will never stop them.

The team started off the 2013 season with a bang when they were invited to spend a day at the Cleveland Browns' training camp and meet some of the players.

Soon after our day in Berea, it was time to start the season against St. Edward in Lakewood. It was a tough loss, but even after a slow start to the game, the true nature of this team came shining through.

Next up was Solon. We won in the very last seconds as #2 Marshon Lattimore jumped seemingly 10 feet into the air to block a field goal that would've given Solon the victory. That was a big one. It was Coach Ginn's first victory after missing the previous two seasons because of some serious health issues, and, of course, everyone was really emotional and grateful.

The last home game of the regular season was Parent Day, where the seniors' families joined them for one last game at Bump Taylor Field behind Glenville High School. Thank you, families, for supporting your players all season. It's not an easy job!

The seniors banded together for their last game at home.

On the 8th of November, we played our first playoff game versus Brush High School at Bedford Stadium.

Here's where some very good things outside of the game of football, really important things started happening. Our alumni began to show up! They came from near and mostly far to stand beside their little brothers and their coaches in solidarity as Ginn Men and Tarblooders.

Next we played the Bedford HS Bearcats at Byers Field, and those Bearcats gave us quite a fight. But at the end of the game, both teams came together on the field, not in a line to shake hands, but together in a circle with their coaches to say a prayer and some encouraging words together.

Marshon Lattimore speaks with the media after the game

More Ginn Academy alumni waiting to shake hands with the team after the game

Coach Thee (Theopolis Washington II), leading the prayer in the above photo, has been a Glenville fan "since the band was huge and the stadium had lights!" he says. His father was the Tarblooders quarterback in 1964 and has known Coach Ginn since then. Below, see the two of them together. Coach Thee has been with Glenville since 2007 and is our team chaplain.

Jontrell Crockett with Coach Thee

Next up was Madison HS and we won that game to move on to the state semi-final game versus Medina Highland HS.

The State Final Game

After we won the semi-final game against Medina, it was time for some fun. We had interviews all week long, along with pep rallies and a tour of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton. Most importantly, we had a large community and our Ginn Academy/Glenville family behind us, with more alumni heading home to be with us at the big game. 

On Friday, December 6th, our cohorts from Glenville HS joined us with their drumline and cheerleaders for a big pep rally before we boarded the buses to Canton for the game.

Ginn Academy teachers at the pep rally for the big game

A spirited cheering section came over from Glenville HS

Jackie Bell, Glenville HS Principal

One of Ginn Academy's life coaches, Rob J, leads the Glenville Pop Warner football teams, the Glenville Titans. He's coached a number of our current players and has done so since they were 5 years old. We'll see if we can round up some very cute photos from him of these guys when they were little and we'll share them for Signing Day.

Rob J, one of the Ginn Academy life coaches, with the Glenville football players that he coached in Pop Warner

Ginn Academy life coach, Rob J, with the senior Tarblooders that he coached in Pop Warner

QB Quan Robinson with coach, Damion Creel

Seniors, Jontrell Crocket and Davon Anderson on the bus to Canton

 Sometime in the late afternoon, the snow started pouring from the sky and did not stop for the entire game.

Coach Ginn and the team ready to enter the field, honoring God and love

This is Ace, Glenville's equipment manager since Coach Ginn started 17 years ago.

The game wasn't going so well on the field, but soon our alumni arrived, having braved the storm, from Champaign-Urbana, Bloomington, Ann Arbor, and more. There they were standing beside their brothers and helping to hold them up as the scoreboard brought them down. Always a family. Hazel Parker, Mr. Ginn's assistant, said it best: "You know, we didn't win the state championship but we win every time one of our boys shows up and we see that they're doing well."

V'Angelo Bentley, Shane Wynn, and Justin Hardee, in from the University of Illinois and Indiana University

Ginn Academy life coach and Glenville JV coach, James Fisher, greets Justin Hardee, Ginn alumnus

 

Coaches Robert Andrews and Matt Chinchar make changes at halftime

Shane Wynn, Theopolis Washington I, Frank Clark, and Justin Hardee

Faithful Tarblooder fans cheer for the team as they head back onto the field after halftime

We started to come back, made some good plays, scored some points... but in the end, it just wasn't enough

After a tough loss, Willie Henry, Ginn Academy alumnus and University of Michigan defensive tackle, supports an emotional Marcelys Jones as the teams shake hands

In the end, the Tarblooders did not win the championship game, but Coach Ginn is confident that the stage was set from the beginning and that this was God's plan all along. "No matter how you think you can design something, you're not that great. It's all about Him, what He wants to happen," he said. "He can put someone into a situation that seems hopeless and then He can deliver him out and give him all the hope in the world."

Every sports fan knows that there are always lessons in losing. Coach Ginn isn't bothered by the score of the final game. "I'm very proud of this group; they have a different identity that I've ever had with a team. All the low expectations for these players were overcome by them having faith. They're not you're regular type football players. They have different abilities and traits and they were able to bring that all together as one, as a team," he explained.

Coach Ted Ginn, Sr. watches his Tarblooders in the state championship game in Canton, Ohio

You can watch three of our players, Marcelys Jones, Marshon Lattimore, and Erik Smith, in the U.S. Army All American Bowl on January 4th. Soon after that, February 5th, is NLI Signing Day, and we will have photos of the boys and their families then.

Thank you for following us for the past 15 weeks! Until next year... GO VILLE!!!