2012-GameRelease-Divisional

Player Feature Story
San Francisco 49ers' Ted Ginn Jr. followed his father's path
By Cam Inman, San Jose Mercury News
Ted Ginn Sr. would rent a van every June and load up the precious cargo: young, promising but
overlooked high school athletes.
They would depart from the Cleveland area and travel to colleges all across the country, determined to
make an impression on others -- not to mention themselves.
Two of those players now start for the 49ers: wide receiver Ted Ginn Jr. and strong safety Donte Whitner.
"I felt everybody wanted to go to Texas and Florida to get athletes, and I wanted to change that," Ginn Sr.
said by phone Thursday. "I had to turn the heads of the universities to make people see that there is
greatness in Cleveland, there is greatness in Ohio, there is greatness at Glenville High School.
"Those guys were the pioneers."
Since those trailblazing days, Ginn, the head coach at Glenville, has helped more than 100 players earn
college scholarships and launched a school for at-risk boys. He and his wife will make the trip west to
watch the 49ers face the hometown Browns on Sunday -- only this time by airplane rather than rental van.
"It was all his vision. I know for a fact me and Teddy are in the National Football League because of him,"
Whitner said. " ... We didn't really believe that we could make it to this level."
The younger Ginn and Whitner were teammates at Glenville and Ohio State before starting their NFL
careers with lowly franchises in Miami and Buffalo, respectively. Now 26, both are flourishing in their first
year together in San Francisco.
Their path was laid by the elder Ginn, whose had an immeasurable impact in the Cleveland community.
Among the slew of athletes he has helped earn scholarships is Troy Smith, who won the Heisman Trophy
at Ohio State in 2006 and played quarterback for the 49ers last season.
"He means a lot to the community, to the people, to the kids," Ted Jr. said of his dad, noting the good
examples he has to show others. "It makes his job a little easier. He can say, 'Hey look, it can happen for
you if you do this, do that.' "
Five years ago, the all-male Ginn Academy opened, and enrollment has risen steadily to 300 students.
Ted Jr. paid a visit during the 49ers' five-day layover in Ohio last month. In showing them that he's just a
regular guy, the 49ers' speedy return man may have very well saved a few lives, his father reasons.
"We came from an environment that didn't have expectations," Ted Sr. said. "I started teaching
expectations, then it takes kids like them to achieve it to give the next group hope."
That message echoed throughout a rental van nearly a decade ago. The Ginns and other prospects were
a traveling showcase, rolling from state to state. They would bunk at hotels and sometimes get caught
with too may people in a room. Those seven to 10 passengers learned they were just as talented as the
Florida and Texas players labeled No. 1 by the recruiting magazines.
"We'd go around to schools -- from Purdue to North Carolina State to Florida to Miami -- and we were
competing against all these kids," Whitner said. "We would start to gain more and more confidence."
Glenville became a talent pipeline to Ohio State, starting in 2002 with Smith, who referred to Ted Sr. as
"my dad" in his Heisman Trophy acceptance speech.