CLEVELAND (WJW) — The Glenville High School football team made history over the weekend, becoming the first Cleveland Metropolitan School District to win a state championship.
Now, the city has declared Thursday is Glenville Tarblooder Day.
The Cleveland team, who took down Cincinnati’s Wyoming High School 26-6 to become the Division IV Ohio state champions Saturday night, celebrated with a motorcade and rally Thursday, as well as appearance on FOX 8 News’ morning show.
Legendary Coach Ted Ginn Sr., while in the FOX 8 studios, spoke about the challenges the team overcame to achieve their victory on the field and shared the secret to their success, “If God ain’t in it, you can’t win it.” Watch it here.
For 25 years, Ginn heard people say the team could never reach their goal and to that, he says, “They can put that to rest.”
He said this win brought an awareness to inner city kids all over the country, that they can achieve greatness.
“They are mentally tough. Physically tough. They believed first and learned later. You have to believe that you can accomplish things like that,” he said.
To Ginn, football is just a game and that these athletes lives are what matter most to him.
“It’s just the end of one race and the beginning of the next,” he said. “We just have to continue to fight and help the kids to become productive citizens. Football is over. It’s lifetime stuff now.”
Will Ginn retire after his lifelong goal was finally achieved?
“I’m not going to rust out. I’m just going to give out,” he said. “No.”
Many Cleveland-area officials and fans offered their praises of the team following their 15-0 season, and even the Kid from Akron weighed in on the big win following his team’s loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers Tuesday night.
“Congratulations to Glenville, that’s amazing. It just brings so much awareness. I think it’s amazing when you get a school like Glenville that can win a state championship,” James told reporters. “It allows a lot of the inner city kids to feel like they can go there and win as well and be seen and be heard. It gives a lot of credit to that. I just think it’s pretty special.”
James said he had friends who were school alumni and that it just means so much for the community as a whole.
For those wanting to help celebrate the champions Thursday, community members are asked to wear Tarblooder colors of red, black and white.
The motorcade rolled out from Glenville High School, moving along St. Clair Avenue, to Ontario Street, to Lakeside Avenue ending at Cleveland Public Hall, where the party took place.