MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – With every yard gained, fullback Alec Ingold carries a mission beyond moving the Miami Dolphins offense.
He’s earned the locker room’s trust but wants to add foster and adopted children to the list of teammates who can believe that his story can help them clear any hurdle.
“A kid that is adopted can go out and do whatever they want to do,” Ingold told Local 10 News.
Ingold, 27, who was adopted at birth by Pat and Chris Ingold. He knew he was loved and was raised to know his adoption story but still used football to help quiet the doubts that pursue many adoptees.
Ingold wanted to prove whether love still had to be earned through success, and in finding out who he truly was.
“The identity piece is big, but also, it’s a daily fight of trying to be the best version of who you can possibly be, and not because you’re running away from some fear or some lack of support, but because you’re running towards that love,” he said.
“I fight it every single day,” Ingold added. “Some days it’s easy, some days it’s hard, but that’s life. Being real and vulnerable about that, it can empower some other people that relate at a very deep level.”
He especially means foster children like Woodson Benjamin.
Woodson successfully grew up through Broward County’s Childnet system, and he knows there are thousands of children in South Florida who desperately need to find hope as they wait for a home of their own and maybe potential parents who need just a nudge across the foster care or adoption goal line.
“Alec became an NFL player and with the right support system, you can become anything,” Benjamin said.
“My dad sat me down one day and said ‘Alec you’ve given us so much more than we’ve given you.’ It’s unbelievable that as a testament, you have no idea how much a loving family can give each other. I had no idea how much I gave my parents. I know they gave me the world, a world of opportunity,”' he said.
Ingold’s moments come any given Sunday, where he has helped revive the fullback position in playing a key part in the NFL’s best offense.
“I make sure the catching guy can catch and run. I make sure the throwing guy can throw the ball with as much time as he needs. I make sure the running guy has an extra blade of grass to run. It’s really just trying to help the people that you’re around and serving them and helping them be the best version of themselves. Sounds like this community work with Childnet. It’s crazy but that’s how you live a purposeful life,” he said.
Ingold recently wore Childnet cleats on the field, but he knows that he hasn’t quite stepped in the shoes of those foster children, but he is walking proof that they’re worthy, no matter their story.
“They say comparison is the thief of joy, but when you have that family dynamic and it’s yours and it’s unique to everyone else’s, that journey was made for you,” he said. “Those trials and tribulations were meant for something better and that’s a beautiful thing.”
For his continuous efforts, the Dolphins announced Ingold as their nominee for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award in 2023.