Colonel Floyd L. Griffin Jr. is a proud alumnus of Baldwin High School and a shining example of the impact that the Baldwin County School District has had on the lives of its students. Griffin attended Carver Elementary and then Baldwin High School when it was still Boddie High School, a segregated school for Black students prior to Integration, "My fondest memory is the relationship that I had with my fellow classmates and students, playing football and being part of other activities like band and working with student government, and my teachers who prepared me for life, and the success that I've had over my professional career."
During the Korean War, a young Floyd Griffin would see soldiers on leave returning in the vestments and medals, "and that made me want to go into the military. I decided I wanted to go in as an officer rather than an enlisted soldier so I selected a college with an ROTC program, which was Tuskegee University, though it was called Tuskegee Institute at the time."
After graduating from Baldwin (Boddie) High School in 1962, he earned his Bachelor's in Building Construction from Tuskegee University before going on to serve in the Army Corp of Engineers during the Vietnam War, where he distinguished himself as a helicopter pilot, instructor pilot, and aviation platoon leader.
Shortly after returning home, Griffin was stationed in Virginia where he attended Florida Institute of Technology and received his Master’s in Contract and Procurement Management.
"When I decided to retire from the army, my father had a heart attack, and I felt it was my obligation to come back and support our family business which was Slater's Funeral Home. So I decided that I was going to retire and go into politics. And it was going to be my goal to become the Mayor of Milledgeville."
"So I decided that I was going to retire and go into politics. And it was going to be my goal to become the Mayor of Milledgeville."
Upon his return to Milledgeville, Griffin made history by being elected as the city's first Black senator in a district with a majority white voter base. He served for two terms and, following that, ran for Mayor of Milledgeville and won. His dedication to education continued as he served as an Assistant Professor of Military Science at Wake Forest University and as the director of the ROTC at Winston-Salem State University, where he coached the football team's backfield to two college championships.
Floyd L. Griffin Jr. holds his time at Baldwin High School in high regard, remembering nearly all of his teachers by name. His football skills, honed on the field at Baldwin High School and later in college, are a testament to his discipline, hard work, and athletic prowess. He is a proud member of the Baldwin High School class of 1962 and continues to inspire current and future generations of Baldwin County students through his teaching and through the release of two books, "Legacy to Legend: Winners Make it Happen" and "Life: Four Quarters Plus Overtime". Griffin is married to Nathalie Huffman-Griffin, a fellow Tuskegee Alumnus, and they have two sons, Tuskegee grads also, and three grandsons. They currently reside in Milledgeville.
