CURSEDCLEVELAND.COM

The Glenville Tarblooders are hoping to make history this weekend as they attempt to secure the city’s first ever public school football state championship.  They are led by Ted Ginn Sr, who’s been involved with the program since the 70′s – the last Glenville grad from that era not to move East of I-271. There’s nobody more Glenville than Ted Ginn Sr. He’s arguably the school’s most distinguished alumnus. (Bone Thugs & Harmony were considered, but even if you add Flesh & Bone to the original four, cumulative classroom hours are not enough to equate to even one full diploma). Anyway,  if anyone is the authority on the ‘ville, it’s TG1.

So when he appeared on “The Really Big Show” on Monday, it was a relief to finally have someone clear up the age-old question about  school’s nickname/mascot.

Aaron Goldhammer (AG): “What is a Tarblooder?”

TGS: “It’s a robot”

AG: “A robot?”

TGS: “Yes, It’s a robot that, that worked on the railroad, and they build railroads, you know, and they, Tarblooder came cause they worked by hand to build the railroads, charred black, and bloods from your hands, so that’s the tarblooders, so that’s what they go by”

AG: “And they were building railroads in Glenville at one time?

TGS: “That’s what I’ve heard, from Glennville to Collinwood or something like that.”

And here I always thought it was the influx of automobiles and the advent of dirigibles that led to the demise of railroads. But apparently it was the costly nature of advanced robotics way back at the turn of the century. (In the spirit of full disclosure, my grandfather on my mother’s side worked on railroads, and had many health issues related to the exposure to asbestos, if only he had known to make way for the robots. Unless of course, my grandfather was a robot).

But upon further review, it appears Ten Ginn Sr. needs to stick to ransacking other local football programs in the Cleveland public school district for talent, and leave the world of mascot etymology to the real experts.

According to Glenville’s website:

“The Glenville High School mascot received its named from the men working in the railroads in the 1900′s. These men drove and tarred stakes into the railroad tracks ground to secure them to the ground. The hot tar would splatter onto their arms and face causing them to bleed as if they were sweating blood. Many of these men lived in the Glenville community, when the school was originally erected in 1919 on Everton and Parkwood avenues, the men became a symbol. The Mighty Tarblooder.”

We do wish Ginn and his Tarblooders the best this weekend in the D-1 title game.  We also wish him the best with his new academy designed to help at risk urban youths.  Fortunately he gets to name this one after himself.  Though he hasn’t declared a nickname yet, we’re sure it’ll be some post-apocalyptic cannibalistic humanoid underground dweller, or, as others would call it, a “Warrior.”