Ingold’s childhood dream of playing for Bison basketball team comes to fruition
Kim Chaudoin |
Jack Ingold does not give up easily.
For years, he chased a dream that seemed just out of reach. He sent emails that often went unanswered, trained when no one was watching and refused to take “no” as the final answer.
His goal? To be a member of the Lipscomb University men’s basketball team.
His persistence paid off in December 2024 when, at the team’s Christmas party, he opened a book from Head Coach Lennie Acuff, expecting nothing more than a heartfelt message of encouragement. As he read the note aloud in front of his teammates and coaches, he paused when he got to the words he longed to hear:
"As of tonight, you are on full scholarship."
Overcome with emotion, Ingold struggled to get the words out before breaking down in tears. His teammates erupted in celebration, recognizing the significance of the moment.
The moment was captured on video, posted on social media and caught the attention of Good Morning America, earning a spot on the show’s Play of the Day segment on Dec. 19.
For Ingold, a senior who will graduate in May, this was more than a scholarship. It was the realization of a dream that had taken root when he was a fifth grader in Charleston, West Virginia. It was about years of hard work, faith and an unshakable belief that he was meant to be part of Lipscomb basketball.
A childhood dream
Ingold’s mother, Elizabeth (Mynes ’90), attended Lipscomb in the 1990s during the university’s golden NAIA era of Coach Don Meyer along with players Philip Hutcheson (’90, current Lipscomb athletic director) and John Pierce (’94), who are the top two all-time scoring leaders in all levels of college basketball.
The family even owned a VHS tape of the epic 1990-91 Battle of the Boulevard rivalry game, which Ingold watched repeatedly as a child. “That was truly an exciting time,” he says. “So I kind of grew up being exposed to Lipscomb basketball.”
When he was in the fifth grade, Ingold’s family drove to Nashville for a weekend. His mother took Ingold and one of his siblings on a tour of campus. It led them to Allen Arena, where the men’s basketball team happened to be practicing.
“Walking into Allen Arena as a fifth grader I was in awe of everything,” he remembers fondly. “It was summer time so the team was practicing. And that's kind of where I fell in love with the program and set my sights on playing basketball at Lipscomb.That's a goal that I held on to all the way until I got an opportunity to actually be part of the program going into my sophomore year of college.”
But achieving that goal would be anything but easy.
Ingold began playing basketball at age four and played for George Washington High School before coming to Lipscomb.
A passion for basketball
At age four, Ingold began playing basketball. It is a game that he loves and that he says has been a “healthy outlet.”
“Basketball has always given me a sense of structure, a sense of being, a sense of purpose and something to do,” he explains. “I feel like if I wasn't playing basketball, I probably wouldn't be the student that I am or the young man I've become. I have learned more from basketball than any other thing that I've chosen to do in my life.”
“For me, it's not so much about minutes played, but much more about the experience, the lessons learned and the people I've come to know along the way,” he continues.
Ingold started out playing high school ball at Cross Lanes Christian School for two years before transferring to George Washington High School in Charleston for his final two years.
Near the end of his junior season, Ingold watched as some of his teammates were getting recruiting interest from college teams. He knew that as an undersized and under-recruited player, he would have to go above and beyond to make his dream a reality.
With his dream of playing at Lipscomb in his mind, Ingold connected with a nearby basketball coach, Greg White, who was on staff at UCLA and won two national championships with John Wooden and was the head coach at Marshall for many years, for advice.
“I met with Greg because I knew that he would know how to help me get to where I wanted to go,” Ingold explains. “So we kind of built this dream, this roadmap, of what I needed to do. Of course there were no guarantees, just the hope that I would be able to somehow distinguish myself enough to get lucky and find an opportunity.”
Ingold shoots a freethrow for his George Washington High School team.
A relentless pursuit
By his junior year of high school, Ingold started working the plan he developed with White and began reaching out to Casey Alexander, who was head coach of the Bisons at the time, and to Acuff when he took over head coaching duties in 2019. Ingold sent emails to every coach on staff every Monday at 7 a.m. for two-and-a-half years.
"I got maybe three responses total during that time," Ingold laughs. "Each one was polite, but they all essentially said the same thing — no scholarships, no roster spots. But I wasn’t giving up."
Ingold was motivated to continue his pursuit because of his experiences with his “amazing coaches, mentors and teammates” in high school.
“Up to that point of my basketball career in high school, I had a pretty good understanding that basketball was benefiting me in more ways than just in recognition, awards or points scored,” says Ingold. “I love what being part of a team taught me. So, ultimately, I thought that whether I eventually achieved my goal or not, I would be much better off for gaining the lessons from that experience of trying than to have just given up, laid down and thrown in the towel.”
In high school, Ingold made videos to send to Lipscomb Coach Lennie Acuff to encourage him to recruit him for the team.
To stand out, he started making highlight videos, sending handwritten letters and even creating personal video messages. Meanwhile, Ingold graduated from high school and enrolled at Lipscomb University with no promise of having any involvement with the men’s basketball team.
“When Covid-19 began and college recruiting came to a halt, I was at the end of my senior year of high school. I held no college offers, no interests and I had no way of knowing what my future in basketball would look like,” he recalls. “I came to Lipscomb as just a regular student. But I continued to send emails and was still looking for ways to get my foot in the door or to become noticed by the coaching staff.”
He reached out to former Lipscomb player Andrew Fleming (’20), who was running basketball training sessions in Nashville. Ingold started working out with Fleming once or twice a week. Also working out with Fleming was Will Pruitt, a standout for the Bison basketball team. Pruitt and Ingold trained together at times.
“That eventually evolved into Andrew making phone calls for me to the coaches,” he says.
Then, in the spring of Ingold’s freshman year in 2021, fate intervened in the form of the lasting impact of the pandemic. With the NCAA imposing Covid-19 restrictions on in-person recruiting, Lipscomb coaches could only evaluate players already on campus as other recruiting was limited to Zoom and phone calls.
“My situation was perfect, because I was already on campus,” he says. “I didn't have to come on a visit. Covid, which once hindered my recruiting, now gave me an opportunity no one else would have.”
Ingold, a freshman with no official connection to the team, suddenly became one of the few prospects the coaching staff could see in action.
“So we kind of pitched it to the coaches that I’m the only kid that they would likely get to see in person all offseason. In April of my freshman year, I got a text from Coach (Roger) Idstrom and a text from Coach Acuff on the same day, asking if I would have any time to come in and talk to him,” Ingold shares. “During that conversation they asked me what I was doing that week because they would love to have me in and watch me work out. I told Coach Acuff, ‘if you'll crack the door for me, I’ll kick it in.’”
Ingold completed the workout, but the session didn’t go as he had hoped and he left feeling like he had blown his shot. But the next day, Acuff called him into his office and offered him a spot — not as a player, but as a manager.
Ingold in action for the Bisons.
Earning his place
He reported for his manager duties that summer, when another door opened. The first week of practice, a walk-on left the team to pursue a job.
"So Coach pulled me aside and told me, 'If you really want to do this, if you’re serious about it and want the opportunity, we’ll give you a practice jersey. You can practice with the team train with the team, lift with the team. You can do everything that they do, but on game days you’re a manager. You’ll still have responsibilities before and after practice getting things ready,'" Ingold recalls. "I never dressed out for a game. I wasn't on the roster. But practicing and lifting with the team was more than enough for me — it was the biggest deal in the world. To me, I had made it."
For an entire season, Ingold juggled the responsibilities of a manager while practicing and training alongside his teammates. Then, Ingold had another opportunity to get closer to accomplishing his goal.
“Coach had told me at the beginning of the season that if I did well at this, maybe he’d give me the opportunity to walk on,” he says. “After that year in our exit meetings, Coach gave me the opportunity to be a walk-on the following year as a junior member.”
Ingold continued as a walk-on as his senior season which began this past fall. And in December 2024, his lifelong dream became a reality with his scholarship announcement.
“That's a moment that I will remember for the rest of my life,” he says.
On Feb. 26, 2025 senior night and the last regular season home game against Central Arkansas, Ingold scored the final points of the game.
Then, on Feb. 26, 2025 senior night and the last regular season home game — Ingold stepped onto the court in Allen Arena for one final game at the place where years earlier as a fifth grader he fell in love with Lipscomb basketball. As the final seconds of the regular season ticked away, Ingold took a shot — and made it, scoring the last points of the game. It was the perfect ending to his Lipscomb basketball story.
“I've had every kid's dream moment, from getting the first opportunity to being put on scholarship to being a part of teams that have won some really cool games, even down to senior night last week and getting to score the last points the regular season,” he reflected.
"It would be hard to accurately describe Jack Ingold's impact on everyone associated with Lipscomb basketball," says Acuff. "His willingness to put himself out there in pursuit of a dream and his commitment to stay the course in pursuit of that dream is an example that we all will draw upon for the rest of our lives. Jack will leave a legacy of selflessness, integrity and passion that will be the standard for every young man who wears the purple and gold in the future!"
A future beyond basketball
Ingold will graduate in May with a double major in finance and business management. He has already secured a job with The Parent Company, a commercial construction firm in Brentwood, Tennessee, where he interned last summer. Even after graduation, Ingold will continue to have strong ties to Lipscomb as his brother, Nick, is an academic success coach at Lipscomb and a graduate student, and his sister, Catherine, will be a freshman at the university in the fall.
Reflecting on his journey, Ingold sees his time at Lipscomb as much more than just basketball.
"For so long, my dream was all about me—what I could achieve, what I could prove. But what I’ve learned is that it’s not really about me at all or about what I could achieve. God has been guiding every step of my journey, using incredible people to shape me along the way," he says. "I’m in awe of how He has made so many provisions for me and over-delivered in my life because I’m unbelievably blessed to be in the situation that I’m in and to have had all of the opportunities that I have had. My story is a lot less about basketball than people might think. Lipscomb didn’t just give me a chance to play basketball; it gave me lifelong relationships, lessons in perseverance and a deeper faith. All the ways that Lipscomb as a whole has formed and shaped me, helped me grow and challenged me is incredible, and I’m unbelievably grateful for Lipscomb."
Ingold hugs Coach Lennie Acuff on senior night in February.
But Ingold credits his coaches and teammates with having the most impact in his life.
“The impact that the coaches and my teammates have had on me is tremendous and I am grateful for our coaches and the people that I get to be around every day,” he says. “The coaches are particularly special and meaningful. Coach Acuff is an unbelievably selfless person. There is not a better man, a better coach in college basketball than Lennie Acuff. We are fortunate to be led by him and to get to play for him.”
“They way that the coaches continue to seek out the right people to fill our locker room to build a team with is incredible as well, and you can see that reflected on the court. Whether we play the best game ever or we struggle, they make it so much more about basketball,” reflects Ingold. “You know, I will not look back and probably remember how many points we scored, or how that game went. But, I will remember the lessons the coaches taught, the advice that they've given and and the example that they are.”
— Photos Courtesy Jack Ingold