Manager, daughters witness miracle of family on the road

By David Dorsey
Fort MYers News Press

The Ingram sisters don't root for the home team.

They root for their dad.

Kacey Ingram, 11, and Kristen Ingram, 9, have made a lifestyle out of following their father, Fort Myers Miracle baseball manager Riccardo Ingram, during his team's summer road trips.

Allison Ingram, Riccardo's wife of 14 years, usually drives their daughters in the car, following the team bus.

During June and July of their summer vacation -- they live during the rest of the year at their home in Lilburn, Ga. -- every day seems like Father's Day.

"He's a good manager," Kacey said.

"Everybody asks him for autographs. When I see that, I think, 'That's my dad!' "

"He's in the newspapers, and he's on TV," Kristen said. "It's cool."

Riccardo Ingram, 38, has reached the halfway point of his first season with the Miracle. His daughters and wife are no strangers to Florida road trips; however, because Riccardo used to coach in the Gulf Coast League.

"I like going on the road," Kacey said. "I like staying in the hotels."

Said Kristen: "We play games in the car, and we have traveling books to do."

Already this summer, the sisters have followed their dad to Sarasota, Dunedin and Clearwater.

Their favorite stop in the Florida State League: Daytona.

"They have the best pool," both girls said of the hotel there.

The sisters admit that they don't go on these road trips to watch baseball games.

They go to be with their dad.

"It's fun to watch dad," Kacey said. "We're sitting there, watching him in the dugout, and he's doing all of those signs. That's fun."

At the end of July, Allison, Kacey and Kristen will return to Georgia, where Allison will go back to teaching ninth-grade science classes at Dunwoody High School.

And although the family will have to wait through August and early September before Riccardo can rejoin them -- the Miracle regular season ends Sunday, Sept. 4 -- they stay in touch.

"I call him two or three times a day," Kacey said. "I like waking him up. He gets mad."

But their dad never stays mad for long. In fact, he's usually all smiles.

"He's really nice," Kristen said. "He's happy."

"He has a really laid-back personality," Allison Ingram said. "He doesn't bring the losses home with him. Even as a player, he was able to leave it back at the ballpark."

At the ballpark, Riccardo Ingram doesn't have many personal items on his desk in his office. But he does have a picture of his two daughters along with the words, written in crayon: "To Daddy, With Love."