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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Cecil W. Ingram, better known as "Hootie," was an All-SEC defensive back with the University of Alabama in 1952, billed by the UPI as the 'Tide's Honorable Thief,' after intercepting 10 passes that season, more than any other defensive back in the SEC.

The Tuscaloosa native would go on to serve as an assistant coach at Wake Forest, Georgia, Virginia Tech and Arkansas before becoming Clemson's head football coach on December 17, 1969, where he succeeded Frank Howard, who had served the Tigers in the same capacity since 1940.

Ingram, best known in Clemson lore as the figure most responsible for the university adopting the Tiger Paw as its official, trademarked logo for its athletics programs, compiled a 12-21 record with the Tigers from 1970-72. But the long-time coach and administrator with the SEC, Florida State and Alabama, felt there was much more his regime accomplished while in Clemson.

In the fall of '72, Ingram, a member of the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame and Orange Bowl Hall of Fame, was faced with an opportunity that ultimately led him to change course in his career, a direction that would never place him back on the coaching sidelines again.

We sat down with the former coach at his home in downtown Tuscaloosa where we revisited his three years in Upstate South Carolina. And it was here where Ingram - at least for several hours - put himself back in the Clemson head coaching job one more time to recall his three-year tenure as the program's leader.

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Five years ago when I decided to conduct extensive, sit-down interviews with Clemson's former head coaches, I knew the most difficult part of the project was going to be gathering as much information as possible from a number of sources in order to be in a position to carry the interview for two-and-a-half to three hours.

I was extremely impressed with Mr. Ingram's recall, given the fact that he was being asked to chronicle events that took place in the early 1970's.

When I first approached him by phone to do the interview, we did not set a date. A string of tornados had swept through the state of Alabama, and in particular the city of Tuscaloosa where Ingram resided was greatly affected. Mr. Ingram and I did eventually set a date where I would drive to Tuscaloosa to meet him, though the interview was pushed back twice so that he could assist in the relief effort for other residents in Tuscaloosa who had suffered loss during the storms.

When I arrived to see Mr. Ingram on a morning in mid-May, not only was he ready to step into the Clemson head coaching chair one more time, he was on his front lawn waiting for me, standing on the curb wearing perfectly ironed dark brown slacks with a dark blue polo shirt that donned the Tiger paw he was so well remembered for at Clemson.

I quickly found out there was much more to Mr. Ingram's story as the Clemson head coach who succeeded legendary Frank Howard.

Each of the former Clemson head coaches I interviewed wanted to go off the record on a number of subjects. Mr. Ingram asked to go off the record just once, the least of his counterparts.

During our two-and-a-half hour sit-down, Mr. Ingram's phone rang several times. He simply apologized politely and said once, "At my age, when the phone rings it's not always the best of news." There had been a couple of recent deaths in his church and of course he was still involved in the cleanup efforts following a round of tornados.

Nevertheless I found him particularly positive and still to this day rather fond of Clemson and his experience as the Tigers' head coach, but a man still very much at peace with his career in collegiate athletics, a career that would never see him coach again following the 1972 season at Clemson.

This is Hootie Ingram, in his own words.

This is his story.

Ard. Do you remember your first spring on the booster circuit? How were you received as the new head coach, succeeding someone like Frank Howard?

Ingram. "I never had anybody there fussing about us not winning. But everybody wanted to help. I just had 100-percent support on everything you could ask for. We just didn't have facilities and we didn't have enough quality football players. But shoot ... my phone number was in the book. Nobody ever called up and said anything ugly to me."