Upper Arlington Boys Lacrosse Coach Ted Wolford Dies at 66 After Leading Golden Bears to 16 Ohio State Championships

Ted Wolford, the longtime head coach of the Upper Arlington boys lacrosse program, passed away on May 28, 2026, at the age of 66.

His death sent shockwaves through the central Ohio lacrosse community, where he had spent decades shaping the sport and the young men who played it.

Wolford took over the Upper Arlington program in 1992, succeeding his older brother Bill, who departed to become the founding coach at Worthington Kilbourne. What followed was one of the most dominant runs in Ohio high school sports history.

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Over 25 seasons, Wolford compiled a remarkable 460-61 record, a winning percentage of .883 that speaks volumes about the standard he held his program to every single year.

Under his watch, the Golden Bears reached 18 consecutive state finals beginning in 1993. They lost that first championship appearance but turned heartbreak into fuel.

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Upper Arlington went on to win 16 state titles over the next 23 seasons, including back-to-back championships in 1994-95, 1997-98, and 2000-01.

The program hit its longest sustained peak with five consecutive titles from 2004 through 2008, then added three more in a row from 2012 to 2014.

Wolford capped his head coaching career in 2016 with a title-game victory over Cleveland St. Ignatius, a fitting send-off for a man who never seemed satisfied with anything less than a championship.

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A Legacy That Extended Far Beyond Wins and Losses

Wolford was inducted into the Ohio Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2008, a recognition that captured his influence not just at Upper Arlington but across the region.

Before becoming head coach, he had already spent 11 seasons as an assistant with the program and coached at both Hastings and Jones middle schools. He was embedded in the fabric of the community long before his name appeared on a championship banner.

When he stepped down as head coach, he did not walk away entirely. Wolford stayed on as an assistant under Kyle Olson, one of his former players who inherited the program and later led UA to another championship in 2022. The continuity said everything about the culture Wolford had built.

Tough to put into words how sad I was to hear this. Ted always was patient and informative with me when I first started covering lax back around 2013. Just an immense loss for UA and lacrosse. https://t.co/SY6JpeG04c

— Dave Purpura (@dp_dispatch) May 28, 2026

In July 2017, Upper Arlington named its field “Ted Wolford Field” in his honor, a tribute that ensured his name would be spoken every time a team took the turf.

The UA lacrosse program announced his passing on social media with words that captured what he meant to everyone who knew him.

“Teddy was a coach, a mentor, a husband, a friend, and will always be a legend,” the post read, asking for prayers for his wife Vickie, his siblings, and the “3132 family,” a reference to two former UA players who died of brain cancer.

The outpouring from rival programs was immediate. Watterson, Kilbourne, and others took to social media to honor a man who had competed against them for decades but had earned their deep respect.

Flowers were placed in his name on the turf during the UA girls team’s regional final on May 28. The boys’ team was scheduled to play their own regional final on May 29, carrying the weight of his memory onto the very field that bears his name.