What did Mark Ingram accomplish by winning the Heisman?”
At 5-foot-10, 212 pounds, Alabama running back Mark Ingram runs as hard as his past. He was born in fearless Flint, Mich. His father, former Giants wide receiver Mark Ingram, is jailed here in the city on money-laundering and bank-fraud charges. But making history can roil a player in a Tide of emotion. That’s what happened to Ingram last night. When it was announced that Ingram was the winner of the 75th Heisman Trophy, in the closest voting ever, and that he was first player in Alabama’s storied history to ever to win the coveted award, Ingram finally broke. A Tide of tears rolled down his cheeks. His voice faltered and cracked. “I was overwhelmed, really excited,” Ingram said. “Just the fact that I could be the first Heisman Trophy winner in Alabama and just do this for my family. Everything hasn’t always been easy for us.” No, it can’t be easy when your dad isn’t at the Heisman Trophy ceremony in Midtown because he’s in the Queens Correctional Center. It can’t be easy when the enti
Alabama’s Mark Ingram won the Heisman Trophy Saturday evening. The normally reserved running back was all emotion as he accepted the storied Crimson Tide’s first ever Heisman. And there are the usual rumblings that he did not deserve it (compared to others, such as Stanford’s Toby Gerhart or Nebraska’s Ndamukong Suh), much like the rumblings heard after every major award presentation. But Mark Ingram still has a BCS championship game to play and a professional career to embark upon. The petty jealousies and the professional rationalizations that color the detractions and words of disapproval mean nothing when placed against the backdrop of what could be — and what could be is that another Heisman Trophy could have been presented to another college standout that may prove to have only been a college standout. Mark Ingram put up some impressive statistics in 2009 for Alabama. For the year, he rushed for 1,542 yards, helping to lead his team to its second straight undefeated regular seas
