On January 16, 1962, Greensboro Senior High School changed its name to Grimsley Senior High School after principal A.P. Routh received a surprise phone call from a Greensboro City Schools official informing the school that the school board was going to change the name of the high school that night, and they had three hours to choose a new name or the school board would choose for them. Routh and the staff chose Grimsley because there was a strong desire to keep the school GHS, and George A. Grimsley was the superintendent of Greensboro City Schools when Greensboro Senior was first established in 1899. The name change took effect on July 1, 1962.