NEXT DOORS {ahead of the curve}
MIKE INGRAM RECEIVES PRESTIGIOUS HORATIO ALGER AWARD But the Arizona developer is just getting started Tom Evans | Contributing Editor
Mike Ingram has lived a full and interesting life. But being recognized with something like the Horatio Alger Award still gets his attention. “Back in the 1970s, Zig Zigler was a good friend, and he told me that one of his friends was nominated, and at that time I didn’t know what it was,” Ingram said. “Zig said, ‘Mike, this is one of the highest non-military honors one can receive.’ I started studying about it and thought ‘Wow’ — I never thought I would be considered for something like this. It’s a real honor.” Ingram is well known locally as founder of El Dorado Holdings, which has developed more than 83,000 acres of land in Arizona. He is also part owner of the Arizona Diamondbacks and has been involved with scores of philanthropic causes. He’s certainly worthy of being honored. But there’s something about the Horatio Alger Award that’s a really nice fit. The award will induct Ingram into the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, 28 FRONTDOORS MEDIA | APRIL 2019
which honors the contributions of worthy awardees who have overcome significant adversity to be successful. It provides scholarships to students who are also overcoming adversity, to help put them on a similar path to success. Ingram’s inspiring story started when he was 11. His parents had just bought, torn down and rebuilt a motel in New Mexico when his father died of cancer. “It left my mother and me with the mortgage and medical bills,” he said. “It’s a time of having to fight for your life and for your survival. My mother had an eighth-grade education — you could see the fear in her eyes.” Ingram developed a powerful work ethic and an eye toward entrepreneurship, and paid his way through college by working full-time. “The thing it gave me was probably my work ethic,” he said. “By the time I got to college, my mother was not able to help me at all. The last two