Wake Forest Athletics
Gold Rush Feature: Remembering the Rally
9/14/2011 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 14, 2011
This article was originally published in the August 2011 edition of Gold Rush.
By Jay Reddick
Wake Forest 42, Auburn 38.
If you're a Deacons fan of a certain age, that score brings back memories. More than 35,000 fans jammed Groves Stadium that day in 1979, and they witnessed history.
Wake Forest made some mistakes in the first half to fall behind 38-20 but found redemption in a huge comeback after halftime to grab the victory.
Larry Ingram had his own journey that day. You may remember the ending -- the Wake Forest safety's interception of a Charlie Trotman pass in the red zone to clinch the victory -- but Ingram said the impetus for that moment came from failure.
"Earlier in the game, I got beat on a hook-and-go," Ingram said recently. "I was so focused after that, I was determined not to get beat again that day. And it came my way."
Ingram, 53, works as a software engineer for Sybase, a defense contractor in Severn, Md. He's also a football coach at Archbishop Spalding High School, a job he took nine years ago after retiring from the U.S. Navy. He began as the offensive coordinator of the junior varsity team but soon moved to varsity, where he's now the quarterback coach.
"I just missed football," Ingram said. "I was coaching my son in a youth league, looking for something to do, and this came along. Working with kids is great, and we've got a great bunch of kids. They want to learn to play and do it right. Some kids today think they know everything, but most of my guys are willing to learn."
Ingram, a married father of two with an 8-month-old grandson, has fond memories of his time in Winston-Salem. He earned three varsity letters before graduating in 1981.
As for that 1979 team, he gives credit to coach John Mackovic and his teammates for whatever success he might have had.
"John Mackovic put everyone in a position where we were best suited to help, especially on the defense," Ingram said. "With talented guys like James Parker, Brad Harnisch and Mark Lancaster around me, guys I could trust, it made it easier for a guy like me, as a safety, to do my job."
The game against Auburn was memorable even before the players took the field. With both teams ranked among the nation's top 20 by The Associated Press -- the first time that happened in the 12-year history of Groves Stadium -- there was a buzz around the game that hadn't been seen before. The overflow Homecoming crowd of 35,500 set a stadium record that would stand for 25 years, until the school installed temporary bleachers in front of Bridger Field House for a 2004 game against North Carolina.
And this was one of the rare games that lived up to its billing. Trotman, Joe Cribbs and James Brooks staked the Tigers to a big lead at halftime, but even then, Ingram and the Deacons knew it wasn't over.
"It was electric in that locker room at halftime," Ingram said. "We were all hyped. The staff was pumped, the kids were jumping. You just knew something special was going to happen."
Asked after the game about his halftime speech, Mackovic famously said, "I told them seven words: `Never, never, never, never, never give up.'"
Ingram recalled that moment with a smile: "That was pretty cool, wasn't it?"
With his time overseas and his busy life since returning, Ingram admits he hasn't followed Wake Forest football as closely as he'd like. He attended the EagleBank Bowl in 2008 with former teammate Lewis Owens, which allowed him to meet up with a few others from the old Deacons.
The team's most recent run of bowl success, capped by the 2006 ACC championship, led to more people asking Ingram about Wake Forest, he said.
"I was happy I got to brag again," Ingram said. "Those years at Wake Forest were some of the best years of my life, and I've been known to brag quite a bit about them. But after that, I got to brag on them again."
LARRY INGRAM
Family: Wife Genita, married 27 years; son Terrell, 24; daughter Tenee, 19. One grandson.
Birthdate: April 25, 1958
Major: Physical education
Position: Safety
Favorite athletic achievement: "Probably my two interceptions down at Georgia (Sept. 15, 1979) to beat them in Athens."
