When Theodore Ginn, Sr., an FCA Huddle Leader since 1996, was appointed the head football coach at Cleveland’s Glenville High School in June 1997, one of the first things he did was implement an FCA program for the team. This included Huddle time during the offseason, chapels before every game and FCA Camps each summer. He felt the season would not be successful unless it kicked off with FCA Camp. Knowing many of his players came from single-parent homes and struggled to make ends meet, Ginn worked hard to get outside funding to offset the costs of attending camp for his players. He claims FCA is the “cornerstone of our program,” and he says FCA is the “glue” holding together the Glenville football program.

Because of Ginn’s efforts to get his athletes to FCA Camps over the last 20-plus years, hundreds of players have given their lives to Christ. After facing a grim diagnosis and surgery for pancreatic cancer in 2012, Ginn believes God spared his life so he could continue focusing on serving Him and helping lead youth, particularly in the inner-city, to Christ.

In 2013, Mayor Frank Jackson of Cleveland, Ohio, gave Ginn a key to the city and declared Oct. 15 to be Ted Ginn, Sr., Day.

“Ted Ginn, Sr., has stated that ‘FCA is not a program but a way of life,’ and he has carried out that philosophy since the beginning,” says Nobles Darby IV, FCA Area Representative in Ohio. “He has had a tremendous impact on the lives of his players, and I cannot think of anyone more deserving of this honor. He is FCA personified.”

Ginn is married to his wife, Jeanette.