Miami Dolphins’ Alec Ingold used to dream of playing at Lambeau Field

On November 29, 2024By Littum

MIAMI GARDENS — They shouldn’t be hard to find. Amid a sea of Green Bay Packers fans at Lambeau Field on Thanksgiving night, they’ll be a few hundred strong.

And they will be wearing aqua and orange because they have been ordered to.

“I told them, ‘No Packers gear.’ You can’t bring it in,” Miami Dolphins running back Alec Ingold said this week.

Ingold smiled at the irony. If he grew up closer to Lambeau Field, he would have been able to hear the cheers for Brett Favre on Sunday afternoons. That, of course, excludes the countless times he visited Lambeau, usually for Packers games, but at least once, to daydream.

“It’s a funny story,” he said. “It’s a gathering place, right? So I was probably 8 or 9 years old. My cousin is getting married and they have wedding receptions there. So we’re up there and everyone’s dancing and having a good time.”

But you wouldn’t have found young Alec on the suite dance floor.

“I sat down there for hours staring out at the field, like, ‘Man, I want to be out there. I want to be there one day. I want to play on this field one day.’ “

Alec Ingold played at Lambeau Field in Pop Warner, for Wisconsin

Thanksgiving night will give Ingold the opportunity, though not for the first time. He played at Lambeau in Pop Warner and for Wisconsin, as well as as a rookie with the Oakland Raiders. If anyone Dolphins teammates need a lesson in what makes the place special, Ingold is the man to watch.

“I think it’s a community place,” he said. “It’s faith, family and football there. It’s how people eat, live and breathe, it’s about that organization and that sport. I think it brings people together, I think they’ve done a great job of continuing to renovate the place while keeping the history of it alive. So I just think they’re doing a lot of things the right way. I think it’s going to be a really cool honor to be able to be on that field, especially for Thanksgiving. There have been many memories there for many people who grew up in that area.”

Ingold expects more memories to be made this Thanksgiving. The original Madden Cruiser is scheduled to visit Lambeau. The NFL plans to honor the memory of John Madden, who died in 2021, during all three nationally televised Thanksgiving Day games. All six teams will wear Madden patches on their jerseys.

“I’m thinking about the turduck,” Ingold said of the Madden Thanksgiving booklet. “I think about him being the voice of football for so long, every big game educating fans, educating families on how to play football. He was funny, he brought energy about him. Obviously a legend in the coaching world. He did a lot good things for this game and I’m glad we’ll be able to continue to remember his legacy.”

Dolphins reporter Hal Habib can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on social media @gunnerhal. Click here to subscribe.