Employee Spotlight: John Boyd Rebuilding the Spaces That Built Him

John Boyd grew up on the east side of Toledo and now spends his days rebuilding the public spaces that once shaped him.

Boyd is a crew leader with the Department of Parks and Recreation. He leads a team that helps maintain and revitalize parks, including basketball courts, tennis courts and other athletic spaces across Toledo.

For Boyd, basketball was never just a game. It was a way out, before it became a way to give back. "I grew up in the inner city on Belmont Avenue," Boyd said.

"Basketball has been a lifesaver for me. Without basketball, I'm probably not even here talking to you. It saved me from violence in the streets and from hanging out with friends who got into trouble. I used basketball as a tool to get where I needed to go."

That path carried him through Rogers High School for three years and Libbey for one, and then to Tennessee State in Nashville to play basketball. After college, he played professionally overseas in Turkey for two years.

Now he is back in the city that raised him, working to transform the kind of places that once defined his own childhood. Over the past several years, he has watched those parks change.

"When I talk about revitalizing these courts, we went from just having basic old basketball backboards, aluminum, all the way to fiberglass backboards and breakaway rims," he said. "It's really cool to see all this stuff come to fruition."

Pickleball courts now sit in parks where they did not exist before, tennis courts have been repaired, and new basketball courts and updated shelters now anchor neighborhood parks across Toledo, part of continued and thoughful City investment.

But for Boyd, the work is not only about equipment or upgrades. It is about what they make possible.

He spent years running a Sunday basketball league at the YMCA, where players would arrive early and fill the gym long before games started. One regular participant rarely missed a Sunday.

He was always there early and waiting for tipoff. When funding cuts forced the league to shut down, the weekly gathering disappeared, leaving him without the place where he found friendship, routine and a sense of belonging.

Not long after, Boyd got a call. The man had been killed. "The only thing I could think of was if the league was still going, he would have been at the gym," Boyd said.

That moment stayed with him, shaping how he thinks about what happens when structured programs disappear.

"I want to make sure that even if it's just one day a week, there's somewhere for people to go," he said.

"I just want to heal one guy at a time on Sundays," he said. "Make sure he's somewhere he wants to be, and he's out of harm's way."

That thinking carries into his youth programs through Top Notch Sports, which run from June through August. The camps are low cost and include gear, snacks and recognition at the end of each session. The goal is simple: keep kids connected to something consistent every week.

"I want kids to get out of the house, get off the computer, put the phone down and come outside," he said.

The work reaches beyond kids. Adults come through leagues looking for structure, an outlet or just a place to be.

"Basketball is a way to relieve stress or release pain you're dealing with," he said. "Whatever it is, you need something positive to lean on."

Boyd is engaged and preparing to be married in August. He also works as a basketball official during the high school season, spending much of the year inside gyms across the region.

Family has always been at the center of Boyd's story. He is the youngest of 10 children.

"I come from a family of 10," he said. "Seven boys and three girls. I'm the baby."

Raised by a single mother who worked multiple jobs to support the family, Boyd said he learned early that hard work was expected, not optional. After losing both his mother and a sister, those lessons became even more meaningful.

"She taught me not to feel sorry for yourself," Boyd said. "You work for everything you get. You earn it."

That mindset has stayed with him throughout his life and is reflected in the pride he has for the city he calls home.

"Toledo is home to me," he said. "It made me who I am."

Today, Boyd helps rebuild the same parks and courts where he grew up, creating places where the next generation can play, compete and make memories of their own.

As kids race across newly resurfaced basketball courts, play on renovated baseball fields or gather in neighborhood parks, Boyd sees more than completed projects. He sees the same potential in the players on the court that someone once saw in him.

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