Mark Valentino Ingram Sr. (born August 23, 1965) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

wide receiver in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

who played for the New York Giants (

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

– 1992), the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team p ...

(

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

), the Green Bay Packers (

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

), and the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...

( 1996). He is the father of

Mark Ingram II Mark Valentino Ingram II (born December 21, 1989) is an American football running back for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Alabama, where he was the first Alabama player to win the Heis ...

, who won the Heisman Trophy in 2009 and is the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

' all-time leader in rushing yards.

Early career

Ingram played

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

Flint Northwestern High School Flint Northwestern High School was a high school in Flint, Michigan, United States that served grades nine through twelve. It was part of Flint Community Schools and opened in 1964. In July 2018, the campus was repurposed as Flint Junior High Scho ...

in Flint, Michigan. In high school, Ingram played at the quarterback position with

Andre Rison Andre Previn Rison (born March 18, 1967) is a former American football wide receiver who played professionally for the National Football League's Indianapolis Colts, Atlanta Falcons, Cleveland Browns, Jacksonville Jaguars, Green Bay Packers ...

at halfback. He then played college football at Michigan State University in

East Lansing, Michigan East Lansing is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. Most of the city lies within Ingham County with a smaller portion extending north into Clinton County. At the 2020 Census the population was 47,741. Located directly east of the state capital ...

. At Michigan State, Ingram was moved to the position of wide receiver, where he remained throughout his collegiate and professional career.

Professional career

Ingram was drafted by the

Giants A giant is a being of human appearance, sometimes of prodigious size and strength, common in folklore. Giant(s) or The Giant(s) may also refer to: Mythology and religion *Giants (Greek mythology) *Jötunn, a Germanic term often translated as 'gi ...

in the first round (28th overall) in the 1987 NFL Draft. He is probably best known for a third down play in

Super Bowl XXV Super Bowl XXV was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Buffalo Bills and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion New York Giants to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the ...

in which he eluded at least five Buffalo Bills defenders to achieve a critical

first down A down is a period in which a play transpires in gridiron football. The down is a distinguishing characteristic of the game compared to other codes of football, but is synonymous with a "tackle" in rugby league. The team in possession of the ...

for the Giants to sustain a long touchdown drive. He finished the game as the Giants top receiver with five catches for 77 yards. As a Miami Dolphin, in a game against the New York Jets, Ingram caught four touchdown passes from Dan Marino. The most notable was the game-winning touchdown, which was the result of Marino faking out the Jets defense by indicating he was going to spike the ball to stop the clock. Instead, he lobbed a short pass to Ingram, who was open in the

end zone The end zone is the scoring area on the field, according to gridiron-based codes of football. It is the area between the end line and goal line bounded by the sidelines. There are two end zones, each being on an opposite side of the field. ...

. Ingram retired after the 1996 season.

Legal problems

On September 16, 2008, Ingram was sentenced to seven years in prison and up to five years of probation for money laundering and fraud. He was also ordered in a Long Island federal court to pay $252,000 in restitution. Ingram failed to show up to a federal prison in

Ashland, Kentucky Ashland is a home rule-class city in Boyd County, Kentucky, United States. The largest city in Boyd County, Ashland is located upon a southern bank of the Ohio River at the state border with Ohio and near West Virginia. The population was 21,6 ...

to turn himself in on December 5, 2008, and an arrest warrant was issued. On January 2, 2009, Ingram was arrested in a Flint, Michigan hotel room, where he was preparing to watch his son play in the

2009 Sugar Bowl The 2009 Allstate Sugar Bowl was the 75th annual edition of the annual college football bowl game that is part of the 2008–09 bowl season of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The game was played on F ...

. Alabama lost the game to the Utah Utes by a score of 31–17. On March 22, 2010, in a courtroom in

Central Islip Central Islip is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) within the Town of Islip in Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population was 34,450 at the 2010 census. History and overview Prior to the arrival of European settlers, the S ...

, New York, Ingram was sentenced to an additional two years in prison for jumping bail to see his son,

play for Alabama. He was housed at Yazoo City Federal Correctional Complex (FCC) as inmate 22749-050, and was then in the custody of the Residential Reentry Management Detroit. Ingram was released from prison in early 2015.

Personal life

Ingram's son,

, played for the

Alabama Crimson Tide The Alabama Crimson Tide refers to the intercollegiate athletic varsity teams that represent the University of Alabama, located in Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I as a me ...

and won the Heisman Trophy in 2009 and was drafted in the first round of the 2011 NFL Draft by the

, where he is their all-time leader in rushing yardage.

References

External links

Ingram's profile on ''America's Most Wanted''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ingram, Mark Sr. 1965 births Living people African-American players of American football American football wide receivers American money launderers American people convicted of fraud American prisoners and detainees American sportspeople convicted of crimes Green Bay Packers players Miami Dolphins players Michigan State Spartans football players New York Giants players Philadelphia Eagles players Players of American football from Illinois Players of American football from Flint, Michigan Sportspeople from Rockford, Illinois 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American sportspeople