Larry Ginn

Ginn was an outstanding basketball and football player at Alexandria after arriving as a sophomore from Weaver Junior High. In the 1965-66 basketball season, his sophomore year, Ginn started at point guard as the Valley Cubs reached the Class 3A basketball championship game.

As a senior in 1967, Ginn quarterbacked Alexandria to an 8-2 season, its best win total in 15 years. He completed 23 touchdown passes, then a Calhoun County record, and amassed 2,300 yards of total offense. He was one of five Alabama players named to the annual Orlando Sentinel All-Southern team.

Ginn was a basketball starter at Montevallo as a freshman then transferred to Gadsden State, where he averaged 18 points per game as a sophomore. Ginn played his final two years at Jacksonville State. At JSU, he averaged 11.8 points per game as a junior. In 1972-73, his senior season, Ginn was team captain and averaged 17.4 points as the Gamecocks finished 17-9. He was an All-Gulf South Conference selection after netting over 78% of his free throws.

After graduating from JSU, Ginn returned to Alexandria to teach and coach. He became varsity basketball coach in the 1978-79 season. Ginn led Alexandria to state basketball championships in 1992, 1993 and 1997, second place finishes in 1987 and 1988 and a record eight Calhoun County tournament titles. In 29 seasons, Ginn’s varsity teams accumulated more than 600 wins, averaging more than 21 wins and fewer than five losses a season. Nineteen Ginn-coached teams won at least 20 games and 22 teams lost five or fewer games.

In 1986, Ginn became Alexandria’s head football coach. In 21 football seasons under Ginn’s direction, the Valley Cubs were 195-54. Alexandria won eight Class 4A area championships, three region championships and state championships in 1995 and 1997.

The then-new Alexandria gymnasium was named in Ginn’s honor in 1995. In 2002, he was inducted into the Alabama Community College Conference Hall of Fame. Ginn was inducted into the Alabama High School Sports Hall of Fame in 2005.