He coached baseball in Hampton Roads for 40 years. John Ingram remembered as tough, but fair.

For 40 years, John Ingram made his mark as a baseball coach in South Hampton Roads. He earned his reputation as a fair coach, but a tough one as well — not just on the field, but in the backyard as well.

His son, Jay, knows firsthand just how tough those backyard sessions could be.

“When I was about 12, (we) were in the backyard and he was my catcher and I was throwing to simulated batters,” Jay said. “He was calling balls and strikes, and I got one batter to a full count. Then I thought I would just groove one down the middle to get the strike call. So I threw one right down the middle and instead of giving me the call, my dad just stood up and looked at me and said, ‘Home run.’ ”

What Jay remembers the most, though, are the lessons he learned from his dad: “Success follows hard work. The only real failure is in quitting. Character and integrity matter.”

As a person, Ingram, who died Oct. 16 at the age of 77, exemplified those ideas. And in the world of baseball, wherever Ingram went, success followed.

Before he moved to coaching, Ingram was a three-year varsity player for Princess Anne High and then joined Old Dominion, where he played four years under Bud Metheny. He pitched for a Monarchs team that won back-to-back NCAA College Division Eastern Regional championships. His first coaching stint was at Kempsville Junior High, where he spent 10 seasons before joining Cox High.

At Cox, where he coached from 1990-98, Ingram laid the groundwork for the program, and his impact still lingers today. In 1996, he led the Falcons to the Group AAA state title, ending the season on a 22-game winning streak and with a 27-1 record.

“We have one state championship in our program’s history, and that’s ’96,” current Cox baseball coach Robert Ittner said. “… For our program, our saying is, ‘Tradition never graduates.’ That’s something that we still hold. That ’96 team and what they were able to accomplish is talked about in our program, and that’s something that our (coaches and players) strive to have the opportunity to (emulate).”

Ingram also played a big role in the Falcons' longstanding rivalry with neighboring First Colonial. Former Patriots baseball coach Norbie Wilson recalls “some fierce battles” between the two teams. However, the on-field competition never got in the way of the two coaches' friendship.

“John Ingram was an outstanding baseball coach, but he was an even better person — and I say that without reservation,” said Wilson, who often met Ingram for coffee after their games.

The two men also worked on their craft together, attending coaching clinics and picking other coaches' brains. Wilson calls Ingram a “blue-collar coach,” in that he never assumed he knew it all and he was always willing to learn something new.

Ingram took over at Cape Henry in 2003, where he helped turn the program around before retiring in 2009. Under his guidance, the Dolphins won the TCIS championship in 2007. Ingram also made sure to stay involved in the community, sitting on the sidelines at soccer and field hockey games.

Not only did Ingram take great pride in his team’s performance, but he also knew the value in a pristine baseball field. He was instrumental in getting the facility at Cox upgraded, and at Cape Henry, athletic director Jeanne Short remembers that he was “the first one to pick up a rake” to help maintain the baseball team’s facility.

“He was willing to work a lot of hours to create a baseball field and a baseball team that was competitive,” Short said. “He was a no-nonsense guy. He didn’t really mince words. He told you what he was thinking. He was honest, but he truly cared about the kids that he coached and the kids that he taught.”

Above all, Ingram, who retired in 2009, respected work ethic. Some of his highest praise was when he’d say about a player that “nobody works harder than that young man.”

Dolphins assistant athletic director Tyler Faubert, who played for Ingram at Cape Henry, remembers him as one of the best and toughest coaches he ever had.

“One of my favorite things about him was his way of letting us be who we were as athletes,” Faubert said. “He never tried to force us to be something we were not on the field.”

In his time as a coach, Ingram earned much recognition, receiving a number of Coach of the Year honors and inspiring lifelong loyalty from his players, many of whom continued to return and visit him as alumni.

“John was a great leader,” Wilson said. “He led by example, he disciplined his players properly and they are better people because of it. … I’m going to miss him.”

Sian Wilkerson, sian.wilkerson@pilotonline.com

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