Ex-Alabama star, AD Hootie Ingram passes away at 90

Cecil”Hootie “Ingram, a former Alabama football star and athletic director, passed away Monday. He was 90.

Ingram, who had actually been injured in a fall in March, passed away at a Birmingham health center, an athletic department spokesperson said, mentioning info from the family.He was an All-Southeastern Conference protective back who led the nation with 10 interceptions as a sophomore in 1952, a school and league single-season record that still stands.”We will miss out on Hootie dearly,”Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne stated in a post on X, previously Twitter.”He was such a wonderful guy and always welcomed you with a big smile. Hootie left an enduring influence on The University of Alabama as both a student-athlete and administrator. Our acknowledgements go out to his family and friends. “Ingram, a Tuscaloosa native who also played halfback, played along with quarterback Bart Starr and was also an All-SEC second baseman.He signed with the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles however left and started a training profession at Tuscaloosa-area high schools. Ingram invested three seasons as head coach at Clemson, going 12-21 from 1970-72 after stints as an assistant at Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, Georgia, and Arkansas.Ingram then went into administrative roles. He was associate commissioner of the SEC, where he worked from 1972-81. Ingram went on to become athletic director at Florida State(1981-89) before returning to run his university’s athletic department up until his retirement in 1995. He employed Gene Stallings as head football coach, and Stallings led the Crimson Tide to the 1992 nationwide championship.Ingram was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 1991 and was selected as a second-team defensive back on Alabama’s” Team of the Century.

“In 2007, he won the National Alumni Association’s Paul W. Bryant Alumni-Athlete Award, recognizing athletes whose accomplishments because leaving the university are” impressive based on character, contributions to society, expert achievement and service.”