MONTGOMERY — Former AHSAA Executive Director Steve Savarese received a phone call from Ron Ingram on the night before his introductory press conference.
Savarese’s decision to leave as head football coach at McGill-Toolen Catholic in Mobile to take over the AHSAA’s top job was top-secret information, and Ingram — then the high school sports editor at The Birmingham News — needed confirmation before he could publish a story.
“Ron said, ‘Coach, if I don’t get this story out in the morning paper, they’re going to fire me,’” Savarese recalled, “and I knew nobody is going to fire Ron Ingram. We kept talking and I don’t remember exactly what he said, but he eventually asked, ‘So, what time are you leaving for Montgomery in the morning?
“I said, ‘Oh, about 8:30,’” Savarese replied.
Savarese’s anecdote – one that he laughs about today – showcases the qualities that made Ingram a legendary sportswriter. Relentless. Tireless. Resourceful. Intelligent.
Those same qualities prompted Savarese to hire Ingram as the AHSAA’s Director of Communications less than a year later. Ingram joined the AHSAA in December 2007 and has led the governing body’s communications efforts for the last 18 years.
“We needed someone who had a good relationship with the media,” Savarese said. “There was nobody in the state who had more respect than Ron Ingram. One of the best hires I ever made was Ron.”
Ingram’s relentless and tireless efforts on behalf of the AHSAA ends at the end of the year. He has informed the AHSAA Central Board of Control that he’s retiring, effective Dec. 31.
“Of all the people who have retired from the Alabama High School Athletic Association, he will be the most missed,” said retired AHSAA Executive Director Alvin Briggs, who led the association from 2021-24 and also led the coaches’ association. “Ron does things in that office that nobody else knows how to do, where to start to do them, and how to begin doing them.”
How does Ingram view his decision to retire? “It’s a mixed feeling,” he said. “It’s something I’ve been doing for 54 years, one way or another. Things are going to be different. I’m going to be using my time in a different way. It’s going to be a challenge for me. I’m ready to start spending more time with my family, with my wife and children and grandchildren and doing some of the things I needed to do more of during my career.
“I’m going to miss the AHSAA. It has always had great people working at and leading the AHSAA. Through the AHSAA’s leadership and commitment to the students’ health and safety and fair play mission, our state and its schools have been very blessed. This association is recognized as one of the tops in the nation. I’m going to miss this great family. It’s been a great family away from home.”
AHSAA Executive Director Heath Harmon praised Ingram for his work at the AHSAA and his influence on Alabama high school sports.
“Ron Ingram’s impact on the AHSAA and high school athletics in Alabama is immeasurable,” Harmon said. “His dedication, integrity, and passion for telling the stories of our student-athletes, coaches and administrators have shaped the way high school sports are covered and celebrated in this state. Ron is more than a colleague — he’s a part of our association’s legacy, and while we’ll miss him dearly in the office, his influence will continue to guide us for years to come.”
Ingram played football, baseball, basketball, and track at Pike County High in Brundidge, where he also became a student journalist during the height of integration before graduating in 1970. He enrolled at Troy University before his education was interrupted by his active-duty service as a member of the Alabama National Guard.
Ingram completed his bachelor’s degree at Alabama in 1974 and worked at an advertising agency managed by Florida Congressman and sports broadcaster Earl Hutto in the Florida panhandle for less than a year before joining the weekly Dothan Progress as sports editor in 1975. He moved to the Dothan Eagle, a daily newspaper, in 1982 and became the high school sports editor at The Birmingham News in 1984, where he stayed until joining the AHSAA staff in 2007.
Ingram pioneered a statewide All-State football team at The Dothan Progress, a labor of love that eventually became the annual Alabama Sports Writers Association (ASWA) All-State Teams for football, boys’ and girls’ basketball, baseball. and softball.
Ingram also helped create the ASWA Mr. Football Award in 1982, a program that added Mr. and Miss Basketball, Mr. Baseball and Miss Softball — all awards honoring the state’s best player in each sport.
As girls’ sports became part of the high school sports scene in the 1980s, Ingram legitimized their popularity by covering them with the same passion he had for football, baseball, and boys’ basketball.
The Birmingham News supplied Ingram with two interns each fall and two more in the spring, and his mentorship efforts launched many journalism careers, including legendary Birmingham columnist Kevin Scarbinsky and current AL.com columnist Michael Casagrande.
Ingram won numerous awards during his journalism career, including the ASWA’s Herby Kirby Award for the story of the year in 1987 and the ASWA’s Bill Shelton Award, which honors those who exemplify professionalism and contribute to sports in Alabama, in 2006.
Ingram was inducted into the Wiregrass Sports Hall of Fame in 2009, inducted into the ASWA Hall of Fame in 2013 and the AHSAA Hall of Fame in 2015. The Alabama Sports Hall of Fame presented him the Mel Allen Media Award for meritorious service in 2017, and Auburn University recognized Ingram as the Alabama Community Journalist of the Year in 2012.
“He was the best,” added Savarese, who met Ingram while coaching at Birmingham’s Ensley High in the 1980s.
At the AHSAA, Ingram worked tirelessly behind the scenes to improve access for media members at championship events and served as the emcee at post-game press conferences at the Super 7 and state basketball tournaments.
During the COVID pandemic in 2020, Ingram created virtual press conferences at championship events that allowed media members to conduct interviews without being in the same room with coaches and athletes — a policy designed to honor social distancing guidelines while also meeting the media’s needs.
Ingram spent countless late nights compiling scores and sending them to media members for everything from Friday night high school football to regional tournament action in volleyball, basketball, softball, and soccer to championship play in tennis, golf, and track and field.
“Nobody had ever done that,” Briggs said. “He wanted to make sure the media had all the access they could to the association and the high school athletes of this state. He genuinely wanted good things to be written about the athletes of this state. He never forgot his roots as a local beat writer.”
Ingram is perhaps best known as the AHSAA’s unofficial historian and a natural storyteller. His knowledge of past champions and championships is unparalleled.
“We would joke that Ron could be wrong, but how do you dispute it?” Briggs said.
When Ingram opted to leave The Birmingham News for the AHSAA in 2007, he stayed at the newspaper through the end of the football playoff semifinals. He logged off at 2:30 a.m., after coordinating the paper’s semifinal coverage, and Savarese introduced him as an AHSAA employee at the championship football coaches meeting a few hours later.
“I was out of a job for about four hours,” Ingram said.
Ingram worked with five AHSAA executive directors — covering the association under Herman “Bubba” Scott and Dan Washburn and working alongside Savarese, Briggs and Harmon.
While Ingram is retiring after 50-plus years of involvement with Alabama high school sports, he said he plans to work with the AHSAA from time to time when a need arises. Ingram and his wife Kay are scheduled to take a Caribbean cruise on Jan. 6, just a week after his official retirement date.
“God has given me a great career, and I’m so fortunate to be able to do what I love for 54 years and get paid to do it,” Ingram said. “I had a great time.”
