As His Troubled Father Watches from Prison, Mark Ingram Is Carrying the Crimson Tide on A
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StREtch RUN Against Chattanooga, Ingram did nothing to hurt his Heisman chances, rushing for 102 yards and two touchdowns, this one on a 25-yard dash that put Alabama up 14–0. Photograph by AL TIELEmaNS As his troubled father watches from prison, Mark Ingram is carrying the Crimson Tide on a national title run and trying to deliver the first Heisman in the program’s proud history BY SELENA ROBERTS ’Bama’s Backbone SportS IlluStrated 11/30/2009 alaBaMa.l/o leFt PAGe 42/1 oF 2 SportS IlluStrated 11/30/2009 alaBaMa.l/o righT PAGe 43/1 oF 2 Version: 22 11/22/2009 10:32pM John Shostrom godich bias Version: 22 11/22/2009 10:32pM John Shostrom godich bias a.d./ext: TRAN/x2558 11/23/2009 11:45aM ltran1271 a.d./ext: TRAN/x2558 11/23/2009 11:45aM ltran1271 revise comments: OOF--tweeked headline size and placement, tweeked subhead placment revise comments: OOF--tweeked headline size and placement ±local read± ±Conference± ±art approval± ±HOLD:updates/Checks ±HOLD:art ±local read± ±Conference± ±art approval± ±HOLD:updates/Checks ±HOLD:art MARK INGRAM he precious connection between father and son is a TV tention as Little Mark prepared to play in the PLAYmaKERS are, in some ways, Sugar Bowl. About two hours before kickoff The elder Ingram, as close as ever. The cable inside a windowless warehouse turned prison. You who made a key wouldn’t know that former NFL wideout Mark Ingram U.S. marshals arrested Ingram in a Flint, catch in Super son understands his Bowl XXV, still lives here—or that any federal inmate does, for that mat- Mich., hotel. Authorities reportedly found father’s flaws—“and him sitting on a bed in his underwear, the relays tips to I’ve learned from ter. The Queens Private Correctional Facility is unmarked, Little Mark, who is TV on. It was a head-spinning development nearing the Tide’s them,” he says—but blending into an industrial district used by dozens of for Little Mark, but as a freshman backup, single-season he also realizes other rushing record. express shipping companies that fly cargo in and out of he rushed for 26 yards on eight carries that players have grown nearby Kennedy Airport. Jumbo jets thunder over the prison at an altitude night to end a tumultuous period that under- up never even knowing their dads. Strange Tso low, you can count the passenger windows on the fuselages. There is no scored the mental strength inside his rugged as it may sound, he feels lucky. “Mark Sr. razor wire or guard tower to define the 200-bed detention center for inmates 5' 10", 215-pound frame. It was difficult, but is a good guy as far as giving parental ad- Mark Jr. persevered, Saban says, adding, “I vice and loving his son,” says Saban. “He awaiting trial or sentencing, only a brown steel door with a bulletin board next talked to him when everything was going has done a wonderful job of keeping him to it stating visitation hours (2 p.m.–4 p.m.), caloosa. “Alabama has a long list of great on. I said, ‘That’s your dad. And you are grounded and trying to make him aware of rules for the dress code (no attire that re- players, but no one has ever won it. People any piranhas out there.” veals cleavage or bare backs) and a list of here walk a fine line. We like to say how Little Mark’s dad falls into a category of banned contraband (no weapons or games we’re only about winning and not Heisman confounding contradictions: good man, bad of chance, no cellphones or aluminum foil). trophies, but that talk might be different if decisions. Saban has known him for years, A glance inside the lobby reveals a grim Alabama had one.” going back to Saban’s days as an assistant existence beyond a metal detector. It’s a delicious topic to chew on for the pa- coach at Michigan State in the mid-1980s, Ingram doesn’t want to leave this. He trons at Tuscaloosa’s Dreamland Bar-B-Que. when Big Mark played for the Spartans. On doesn’t seek transport to a permanent institu- They might not trade one of Alabama’s 12 occasion, Saban’s duties included checking tion with roomy outdoor space. He doesn’t itch national titles for a stiff-arming statue, but up on players’ class attendance. “I’d get the for a facility with a stocked library. Because deep in their houndstooth souls, they crave the call,” laughs Shonda Ingram, who was Big what would he do if he lost the remote? validation for historic significance. “If Mark Mark’s high school and college girlfriend In the common room at Queens, Ingram won it,” says Watson, “it would be huge.” before marrying him after graduation. “I’d has game-day TV privileges he might not The elder Ingram soaks in the euphoria in be asked, ‘Why isn’t Mark in class?’ So, yes, I have somewhere else. He has been able prison-issued clothing in front of a television. remember Coach Saban. When he recruited to watch Little Mark, as the family calls To lose this portal to his son’s sophomore- my son, there was trust, a lot of comfort.” running back Mark Ingram Jr., carry the season success would mean losing a piece Saban has guided him with care—even sit- second-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide of himself. So last week Ingram, 44, made a ting him in the second half of the Tide’s 45–0 into the national-title conversation, pow- move as agile as the ones he flashed during a victory over Chattanooga last Saturday to ering down the field as if on casters, able 10-year NFL career in which he caught 265 preserve his body for bigger games. (Mak- to quickly turn one way and then another, passes. His lawyer, Jim Neville, received an ing the most of his short work day, Ingram spinning through tacklers who end up swip- adjournment last Friday, the day his client ran for 102 yards and two touchdowns on ing at his ankle tape. He has been the main was scheduled to be sentenced for jumping 11 carries.) Rival Auburn is next, with a blockbuster to follow: the SEC title game on Dec. 5 against Florida, which in all likeli- “I’m proud of my dad,” Mark Jr. hood will determine one of the participants in the BCS championship game. The show- says. “But I’m becoming known FROM LEFT: down with the Gators also pits Tim Tebow against Ingram in a Heisman Trophy parlor L for what I do, for being myself.” OU game. “Mark knows that [matchup] will be T OMAN/POOL/ part of the headline,” says Tide safety Robby cat in the Wildcat and the unshakable go-to bail 11 months ago. “It’s postponing the inevi- proud of your dad. There may be some public Green, Ingram’s closest friend on the team. player for an undefeated Tide team with a table,” says Neville, who got the sentencing scrutiny he has to take, but make sure you’re “I say if Tebow can win the Heisman as a A jumpy quarterback in first-year starter Greg pushed back to early January. “To be honest, focused on the right stuff.’ ” P;AL TIELEMANS; NFL/WIREIMAGE.COM; DAMIAN STROHMEYER sophomore [in 2007], why not Mark?” McElroy. “It’s humbling to have the team not that I think judges are easily moved, but if He tunneled in. But his father’s fugitive The elder Ingram is more than part of believe in me,” says Ingram Jr. by some great occurrence Mark Jr. should win stunt—a mistake that could add about two the television audience for this drama. He He has rewarded coach Nick Saban’s trust the Heisman, I’d like to be able to say, ‘Look, years to his original sentence—was an intru- remains an active adviser to his son. Two in him with 1,399 rushing yards this season, this is why the father didn’t surrender.’ ” sion on his son’s Sugar Bowl moment. He weeks ago he called his wife before Alabama just 72 yards shy of Bobby Humphrey’s 1986 doesn’t want to be a diversion again. The played Mississippi State and urged her to school record. Suddenly Mark Jr. has given his is how Mark Ingram ended up in elder Ingram has declined all interview text Little Mark with a tip. “He said, ‘You ’Bama a splash of star power reminiscent Queens: Last Dec. 5 he failed to re- requests, ceding the spotlight to Little Mark. gotta tell Mark that when he catches a screen of the Joe Namath and Kenny Stabler days. T port to a federal prison in Ashland, “He said to me, ‘I don’t want to be a bur- pass, he has to pull the ball in and hold it “And neither of them won a Heisman,” re- Ky., after being sentenced to 92 months on den to my son or put any negativity around so he won’t get stripped from behind,’ ” says minds Taylor Watson, Tide historian and bank-fraud and money-laundering charges. him,’ ” Neville explains. “He just wants to Shonda. “He’s still coaching him. My hus- curator of the Bear Bryant museum in Tus- A monthlong manhunt triggered media at- have the focus on Mark Jr.” Father and son band has always been there for him.” 44 | SPORTS ILLUSTRatED | NOVEMBER 30, 2009 SPORTS ILLUSTRatED | 45 SportS IlluStrated 11/30/2009 alaBaMa.l/o leFt PAGe 44/1 oF 2 SportS IlluStrated 11/30/2009 alaBaMa.l/o righT PAGe 45/1 oF 2 Version: 19 11/22/2009 10:32pM John Shostrom godich bias Version: 19 11/22/2009 10:32pM John Shostrom godich bias a.d./ext: TRAN/x2558 11/22/2009 09:47pM sskalocky1271 a.d./ext: TRAN/x2558 11/22/2009 09:47pM sskalocky1271 revise comments: ART FINAL revise comments: ART FINAL ±local read± ±Conference± ±art approval± ±HOLD:updates/Checks ±HOLD:art ±local read± ±Conference± ±art approval± ±HOLD:updates/Checks ±HOLD:art MARK INGRAM ig Mark would wear a ball cap twist- father’s pro legacy hung over him.