UAB athletic director Mark Ingram says there are hardly any photos of him from before the age of 22, because a hurricane destroyed them.

Florida International and Georgia Southern have both moved home games this weekend to Legion Field in Birmingham Ala., because Ingram wanted to do anything he could to help schools in the path of Hurricane Irma. When Ingram was a player at Tennessee in the mid-1990s, his parents lost nearly everything after their home in North Carolina was hit by two hurricanes.

“Helpless, I was nine hours away,” Ingram told The All-American of that time. “They’re trying to move out their possessions, I’m not there to help, school had just started. It’s a lot going on.”

Upon seeing a similar possibility this week in Florida, Ingram leapt at the opportunity to help. After a Conference USA athletic directors teleconference on Tuesday, Ingram texted FIU counterpart Pete Garcia. FIU had been looking at relocating all of its athletes to Atlanta. Instead, they’ll go to Birmingham and play a football game Friday night. The opponent, Alcorn State, bussed over from Mississippi. Other FIU sports teams will practice in the area, as well.

UAB Athletic Director Mark Ingram (Michael Wade / Icon Sportswire via AP Images)

Legion Field is owned by the City of Birmingham, so Ingram called the mayor’s office, UAB’s president, Ray Watts, and UAB football coach Bill Clark. Everyone was on board. Ingram’s staff found 150 hotel rooms for everyone coming in from FIU.

Garcia said believed playing the game instead of cancelling it would help the spirits of everyone involved.

“(Ingram) and his staff have been unbelievable,” Garcia told The All-American. “The University of Alabama-Birmingham has been unbelievable, and the city of Birmingham, to do everything they can to make us feel welcome. It’s not just one team.”

Georgia Southern called for help next. Athletic director Tom Kleinlein quickly discovered Atlanta wouldn’t work for the Eagles, with so many people already heading to the city. Troy and Samford also offered help, but Ingram and his staff at UAB helped find another 150 hotel rooms in Birmingham. With FIU playing on Friday night, Georgia Southern’s game against New Hampshire will be played on Saturday.

“Our team wanted to play it, our coach wanted to play it, and New Hampshire wanted to play it,” Kleinlein told The All-American. “They wanted to play this game, so I felt it was important to play it, if we could.”

Week 2 Game Change Miami (Fla.) at Arkansas State Canceled Alcorn State at FIU Moved to Birmingham USF at UConn Postponed Memphis at UCF Postponed ULM at Florida State Canceled Northern Colorado at Florida Canceled New Hampshire at Georgia Southern Moved to Birmingham

Although FIU’s and Georgia Southern’s athletes and staff have a place to go, they’re not sure when they’ll get to go back. When Rice’s football team left for Australia three weeks ago, Hurricane Harvey wasn’t on the radar. They couldn’t get back to Houston, and instead flew to Dallas to stay in Fort Worth and work out at TCU. Garcia says FIU is scheduled to stay in Birmingham through Monday.

Irma, a Category 5 hurricane that devastated several Caribbean islands this week, is expected to directly hit South Florida as soon as Saturday afternoon.

“The challenge is they don’t know how long they’re going to be here,” Ingram said. “It could be two days a or a month. I pray it won’t be a month, for everybody’s sake. It’s whenever the National Guard lets them back. There are a lot of unanswered questions. People are going to have to have flexibility. If their teams are practicing, it gives them something to do. I think it’s good all-around. We’re happy to do it.”

Garcia recounted that when Hurricane Andrew devastated Florida in 1992, he was the Miami football team’s recruiting coordinator and said it took a few days to account for everyone on the team.

“We’ll all feel a lot safer knowing we have a lot up there,” Garcia said of Birmingham. “Not one single athlete will be on campus.”

Admission to both games at Legion Field will be free. When asked who will pay for the stadium’s usage, Ingram said he told FIU to direct any such inquires to him, and he’d get it taken care of.

This is very personal for Ingram. His parents’ home was destroyed by Hurricanes Bertha and Fran, which hit North Carolina in the summer of 1996. The wind tore off the roof, and then the rain came. They received assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and Ingram’s father later went to work for FEMA. He’s currently in Raleigh assisting with the aftermath of flooding from the spring.

“You realize you can get another couch or table, but it’s the shoebox full of photos your great-grandfather gave you that’s not in the iCloud,” Ingram said. “It’s stuff like that you can’t recover. When your wife says she has her grandmother’s wedding dress and now it’s ruined. She may not ever pull it out, but it meant something to her. It’s the photo album we all used to keep. They’re just ruined. … That’s the kind of stuff you lose, that no amount of money can bring back.”

Ingram recently took part in a telethon to raise money for people affected by Hurricane Harvey, and UAB collected donations at its football game last week. Now, Ingram is opening his city’s doors to more people who need it.

“It’s not about sports,” he said. “It’s about people helping other people. It’s not more complicated than that.”

(Top photo: Trevor Hughes, USA TODAY)

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