Johnny Ingram grew up in Anniston and attended Walter Wellborn High School where he was an All-State football player. He played in the Alabama North-South All-Star Football Game in 1964 and earned a scholarship to play for Vince Dooley at the University of Georgia.

After graduating from Georgia, he took a position on staff at Johnson City High School in Wrightsville, Ga. At the age of only 22, Ingram became the head football coach at Johnson City. His first season, they went 2-8. It got better the second year when the team finished 5-5.

In 1971, Ingram returned to Alabama and took a position as assistant coach at Anniston High School. The next year he landed a job as an assistant coach at his alma mater, Walter Wellborn.

When Ed Dupree retired in 1973, and Ingram jumped at the opportunity to become the head football coach at Wellborn. His 1977 squad played for the state championship but lost 7-0 to Andalusia High School. Ingram stayed one more year before moving to Anniston High School as the head football coach.

Ingram would retire from the sidelines following the 1985 season. That fall he was took a job as assistant principal at Arab High School. He served as assistant principal for three years before being named principal in 1988, where he would serve for seven years. In 1995, Ingram was offered the position as principal at Albertville High School.

Coach Ingram retired from Albertville in 2002 after 33 years in education. He moved back to Arab, and he went to work in real estate. He was offered the site coordinators position for Snead State Community College in Arab. Ingram retired as director of the Arab campus of Snead State Community College.

His overall coaching record in Alabama is 79-50-5 in thirteen seasons as a head football coach.