Paving the Way: Cecil Ingram and Alabama Golf Saw Success Long Before Justin Thomas
If you’ve been keeping up with the PGA Tour, you’ll no doubt know that there’s a new No. 1 in the world rankings of golf:
Former University of Alabama golfer Justin Thomas.
As the tour gears up for its PGA Championship, Thomas enters the course with quite a reputation despite his young age. On Aug. 2, Thomas acquired his 13th win at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, making him just the third player to acquire 13 victories under the age of 30.
The other two names on that list? Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus.
That’s not a bad list of names to be a part of, and Thomas has accomplished a lot since his days with the Crimson Tide. However, the legacy of golf at Alabama goes far back, way before Thomas was even born.
In 1979, Alabama won its first SEC championship in golf by defeating Florida. The team of five players — a sophomore, a junior and three seniors — established relevance for a Crimson Tide golf program that for years had been trying to make a name for itself but kept falling short.
One of the players on the team was Cecil Ingram, son of Alabama football player and eventual athletic director Hootie Ingram.
Needless to say, Cecil Ingram is thrilled at Thomas’ success at the professional level.
“Boy he can chip the golf ball,” Ingram said. “You know they talk about how long he hits it but he is such a good chipper of the golf ball. […] We had Michael Thompson win the week or so before and then Justin wins, we have a couple of other guys in Robby Shelton and Bud Cauley who are both playing good this year,” Ingram said. “We’ve got a lot of good players out there. It’s a source of pride for us.”
Courtesy of Cecil Ingram
Born in Tuscaloosa, Ingram always called the small Alabama town his hometown despite moving all over the southeast during his childhood due to his father’s multiple jobs at various universities.
When his family moved to Arkansas, Ingram quickly developed a love and passion for the game of golf.
“I started playing in Arkansas on the course,” Ingram said. “One of the reasons was Frank Broyles [head football coach of the Razorbacks]. Coach Broyle’s wife would walk the golf course with the younger golfers so we could get on the course because you had to have an adult. I got in with a group of kids and we started playing. I think I played my first tournament when I was 10 years old but it was because she qualified us to be out on the course because we had an adult with us.”
In 1973, Ingram and his family moved to Birmingham while his father worked in administration for the Southeastern Conference. It was there that Ingram started to realize that he wanted college golf to be a part of his future.
“In Birmingham I had a couple of places that I could play and work,” Ingram said. “I started working at a golf course when I was 15. I was around golf and I played in tournaments and I was getting a little better and just decided that I wanted to play college golf.
“College golf got serious for me after I moved to Birmingham.”
With his father having connections at many institutions including Alabama, Arkansas, Wake Forrest and Clemson, Ingram decided that he wanted to go to school where life had begun for him: Tuscaloosa.
“Well I was born in Tuscaloosa,” Ingram said. “I would always come for summer and for Christmas. Being born there I considered Tuscaloosa my hometown. Now my residence has been in the Birmingham area since 1973 but Tuscaloosa — because I was born there and every year of my life I’ve been there — I consider my hometown.
“When I got offered there was no question that was where I was going to go.”
Ingram moved to Tuscaloosa and was soon swinging his clubs with the Alabama A logo on his polo shirt.
Courtesy of Cecil Ingram
After his freshman year in 1977, Ingram found himself to be a sophomore golfer who was playing on a fairly good Crimson Tide team. Despite having never won an SEC title before, the team found themselves in the championship final against the Florida Gators.
The Crimson Tide’s first SEC championship will always be one of Ingram’s fondest memories from his time on the team.
“We had had great players and great teams but had never won the SEC,” Ingram said. “It came down to the last hole and we beat Florida. My dad happened to be there — he was working for the Southeastern Conference at the time — they put on the tournament here in Birmingham so there was a few people around. It went down to the end of the deal but I had a good finishing hole that I’ll always remember.”
Alabama wasn’t invited to participate in the NCAA championships for what Ingram claims to be political reasons. However, he was invited to participate as an individual. Not wanting to attend the tournament without his teammates, Ingram decided that he would not be traveling to Winston-Salem, N.C. for the tournament.
That was when Ingram got a call from his coach, Conrad Rehling.
“I was invited as an individual and I said ‘I’m not going,’” Ingram said. “Coach Rehling called me up at the house and told me that [Alabama football coach Paul ‘Bear’] Bryant said that I would be going.”
Ingram did go, but unfortunately the young golfer was unable to win the tournament. However, with Ingram now on his radar, coach Bryant wanted to ease the mind of the college sophomore.
“I guess as a little way to make me feel better about not going with my team to the tournament coach Bryant said ‘You can come caddie for my at the Danny Thomas tournament in Memphis,’” Ingram said. “Well the NCAA wouldn’t let me, so that go nixed. So instead, we could do it in Birmingham so I went and caddied for coach Bryant in the Charley Boswell tournament.”
Courtesy of Cecil Ingram
Soon Ingram found himself caddying for Bryant at multiple tournaments. While carrying his clubs and offering advice, Ingram would also instruct the legendary football coach on his golf game.
“We had a couple of times where he’d play real well,” Ingram said. “One time we were up at the Boswell tournament and he was playing real well — got off the first couple of holes real good. I remember I said ‘Coach, this shot you either really need to hit a good six-nine or just a smooth fiver.’ He said ‘Don’t give me choices just tell me what to do.’
“He did that and he got off to a real good start on the first three holes and one of the other members of the group was [Selma native and basketball/baseball coach] Larry Striplin and he had hit it down in the creek. So I crawled down there to get his ball and while I was down there and coach Bryant three-putted. He said ‘Don’t look for anybody’s balls anymore, just stay right here with me.’”
Caddying for Bryant is another one of Ingram’s fond memories from his time at Alabama, but their relationship took another step one Monday night in the mess room of Bryant Hall.
“One year we had the Notre Dame game,” Ingram said. “I had a Monday night class so I was at Bryant Hall eating dinner and I was first in line and I was gonna eat quick because I had to run to class. I was about a third [of the] way through my meal and you could kinda hear the room get a little bit quiet. Coach Bryant had come in to eat. He used to do that before some of the games here just to kind of let them know it was serious business. He came over and he sat down with me. That kinda gave me a little credibility when everybody was looking and he was sitting there with me talking about golf. That was a good evening.
“It always good to get a little credibility when you’re a 160-pound guy in there eating with Marty Lyons and Barry Krauss and the big guys in there. Things like that would kind of help you cross the barriers between different sports.”
Courtesy of Cecil Ingram
In 1981, Ingram graduated from Alabama and played professional golf for several years before hanging up his golf bag. Ingram still plays today but does so as a hobby rather than professionally.
Since his time with the Crimson Tide, Ingram established his own real estate consulting business in Birmingham where he represents property owners and ensures that their properties are being maintained properly.
Golf is far from behind Ingram, though. In addition to helping the team gain addition resources that have led to resounding success for the team over the past couple of decades, Ingram also helped establish an A-Club golf tournament to raise money for Alabama athletics scholarships. The A-Club is an organization composed of former Crimson Tide letter winners who raise money for scholarships and other Alabama-related endeavors.
With the recent successes of both Thomas and Thompson, it seems that Ingram’s hard work and dedication to the Crimson Tide golf program is paying off.
When speaking of Thomas, you can hear the pride in Ingram’s voice.
“Justin is obviously really really good,” Ingram said. “I’ve known him since he was being recruited down here. He’s very dedicated but he’s very personable. I could tell early on he made friends real easily, he’s a good friend. I’ve seen him befriend an awful lot of the other players as they’re making efforts to get better and even the ones on tour.
“He still comes back to campus. I see him at the golf team tailgates, he supports the team, he keeps up with ‘em. He’s been a really good teammate and a really good mentor to a lot of the younger guys, and with the older guys he fits right in with us.”
Over 40 years later since that first SEC championship in 1979, Alabama golf has won four more titles in 2008 and 2012-2014 and has had 22 appearances in the NCAA golf championships. A lot of that is thanks in part to Ingram and his 1979 team’s dedication to improving the Crimson Tide program.
Courtesy of Alabama Athletics
While Ingram is proud of what he’s helped build at Alabama, he can’t help but sit and ponder of what more his team could have accomplished had they had the same resources that the Crimson Tide golfers have today.
“I loved playing golf at Alabama, I loved being a college golfer,” Ingram said. “But as much as I loved it I think ‘Boy if we had this much more with training staff and academic support and all the other stuff that they’ve got down there, it’s just the best you can get.
“We were scrambling to get equipment. They’ve got so much it’s unbelievable, but they’ve earned it.”
