Sports

Kay Yow Spring Game Means More to Chris Ingram

Landon Bost

RALEIGH, N.C. – The 2019 Kay Yow Spring Football Game yesterday was more than a preseason exhibition for N.C. State Wolfpack junior corner back Chris Ingram. 

Corner back Chris Ingram
Corner back Chris Ingram // photo courtesy of Landon Bost

Ingram, a Salisbury, N.C. native, started every game last season except for the home opener. He grabbed his first career interception at Marshall on Sept. 22, 2018. Moreover, he tallied 45 tackles (0.5 tackles for loss), nine pass breakups and one interception in 776 plays in the No. 15 jersey his first two seasons. 

But things changed.

“I switched to number seven,” Ingram said, “because the former player, Freddie Phillips, that’s one of my guys. I like him a lot. What he stood for. And growing up, I wore number seven, because I played quarterback. And it’s more like I idolized guys that wore number seven who played quarterback. And then around the time I wore number seven, I lost my aunt to breast cancer.” 

Chris Ingram autographing a football after the game // photo courtesy of Landon Bost

In partnership with the Kay Yow Fund, the Wolfpack ran onto the field through a “survivor tunnel” made of people who are battling cancer, cancer survivors and their families before the game.

“It just wasn’t a game to me,” Ingram said when asked a what a game dedicated to breast cancer meant to him. “It was more a memorial in remembrance of my aunt. I just did everything I did today for her.”