FB Alec Ingold Named Miami Dolphins Nominee for Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award Presented by Nationwide
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Miami Gardens, Fla. – The Miami Dolphins announced today fullback Alec Ingold as their nominee for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award Presented by Nationwide. The Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award presented by Nationwide is the league’s most prestigious honor and acknowledges NFL players who excel on the field and demonstrate a passion for creating a lasting positive impact beyond the game in their communities.
Ingold joined the Dolphins in 2022 as a free agent and immediately set to work empowering, uplifting and inspiring within the South Florida community. Adopted at birth, Ingold found purpose in his story and dedicates much of his work to children in the adoption and foster care community. He officially founded the Ingold Family Foundation in 2022 to cultivate environments of inspiration and motivation, connecting youth with community leaders and fostering an ecosystem of excellence.
“We are proud to recognize Alec as our Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year nominee and proud to have him represent the Miami Dolphins,” said general manager Chris Grier. “Alec demonstrates excellence on the field on daily basis, but his leadership and positive influence on others off the field is even more exemplary. He was voted a captain this year by his teammates, which is the highest recognition of respect inside the team. This honor only underlines the impact Alec has had and continues to have, both on the Dolphins and the South Florida community.”
Through his foundation, he helps local youth transform their dreams into tangible goals by providing necessary support to achieve that success through mentorship opportunities, mental health advocacy, physical education, entrepreneurship and financial literacy. Ingold founded the Money Minicamp program to enhance financial literacy at schools in underprivileged communities and dedicated his time to support youth at risk of aging out of foster care.
In his first season in South Florida, Ingold began partnering with Children’s Home Society of Florida, an organization whose mission centers around child welfare services, including foster care and adoption. In 2023, he partnered with CHS to host a free summer camp for youth who are in foster care or have been adopted. Ingold engaged with kids as they took part of the camp and was able to connect with the students and find similarities in their emotional journeys.
He channels his efforts into meaningful partnerships with multiple organizations dedicated to adoption and foster care advocacy including AdoptUSKids, ChildNet and The Barker Adoption Foundation. Ingold serves as a national spokesperson for AdoptUSKids and was awarded the 2022 Adoption Excellence Award through the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington D.C earlier this year.
Ingold utilizes the power of conversation to motivate and inspire, constantly seeking new mediums and avenues to reach unique audiences. In 2023, he has led “Mindset” panels in partnership with Lululemon, connecting with community members by sharing his journey through his own adoption story and adversities. He delivered a speech for the Coconut Creek Police Department’s “Do The Right Thing” initiative that recognizes local youth for exemplary behavior and served as a guest judge for the Jason Taylor Foundation’s poetry slam. He also delivered a testimony talk for God Behind Bars and the commencement speech for 2023 Miami-Dade College graduates and hosted a Mental Health Mastery panel. In athletics, Ingold conducts mindset coaching in monthly calls with four college athletes across the country and delivered a motivational speech for the Miami Edison youth lacrosse program.
Ingold also authored his own book, “The Seven Crucibles,” detailing his journeys through life and injury adversity and sharing tools for readers to utilize in their own paths, which was published in February 2023. At the Junior Dolphins Coaches Clinic, Ingold engaged with more than 500 local youth football coaches on the importance of their impact in their players’ lives and gifted participants with a copy of the book.
Ingold has been committed to supporting team community events, aligning own passion to help youth succeed through physical education and academic excellence. During the 2023 season, Ingold helped surprise the South Broward High School football team by delivering football gear, equipment and cleats to enhance their football program in partnership with Junior Dolphins. Ingold also visited STEM students of the S.E.E.K Foundation at Bunche Park in Miami Gardens, Fla. He joined students as they took part in the lesson plan and learned to build and code Lego robots.
This marks the second season Ingold has been selected as a team nominee for the award. He was previously chosen as the Las Vegas Raiders’ 2020 Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee.
As a nominee, Ingold will wear a Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year helmet decal through the end of the season in recognition of their accomplishments on and off the field.
All 32 nominees will be recognized for their achievements during the week leading up to Super Bowl LVIII. The 2023 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year winner will be announced during NFL Honors, a primetime awards special to air nationally on CBS on Thursday, Feb. 8.
Each nominee will receive up to a $55,000 donation, and the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award winner will receive a $250,000 donation to the charity of his choice. All donations are made possible by the NFL Foundation and Nationwide.
This year, fans are once again encouraged to participate in Nationwide’s annual Charity Challenge, a social media and online contest that allows fans to show support for their favorite Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year nominee. Fans can vote on X (formerly Twitter) by posting #WPMOYChallenge along with the name/X handle of their chosen nominee or by voting directly on NFL.com/ManOfTheYear. The nominee who receives the most collective hashtag mentions and votes will win an additional $35,000 donation from Nationwide to the charity of their choice, with the runner-up receiving $10,000 and the third-place winner receiving $5,000. Charity Challenge voting takes place from Dec. 5th to Jan. 8th.
For more information on the nominees and the award, please visit NFL.com/ManOfTheYear.
