“Nobody paid attention to his life,” said [Ted] Ginn [Sr.], the founder and executive director at Ginn Academy and no longer a security guard at Glenville. “He just walked into my office and said he wanted to listen to what I had to say. I got into his life, and the rest of it is history.”
Ginn was stunned by what he uncovered as he forged a relationship with Arvell.
“I didn’t even know it was that bad until he came here,” Ginn said. “It was bad, bad. He didn’t want to play any more, he didn’t want to go to school, he didn’t want to do nothing.
“I think he lost hope. I didn’t ever know him to do anything bad. I just think his life was depressing enough that he just didn’t see his way out.”
Ginn showed Reese a plan, academically, that allowed him to move forward. His grade-point average was hovering around 1.0, and Ginn stressed that without the education component, the football realm could not take hold.
“He came to me at a time at the lowest point in my life, and he poured into me,” Reese said during Giants rookie minicamp. “He saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself at the time. Every time he’s talking, I’m all ears. He always wants the best for me.”