Ingoglia, man of many talents, celebrates birthday
OPD detective, ESPN broadcaster turns 48 years old
Rene Ingoglia is a rare college football analyst who isn’t idle during the coronavirus shutdown of sporting events.
Ingoglia, an ESPN analyst who was born on this date in 1972, is an Orlando Police Department detective who has juggled his day job with college football radio and TV appearances.
The 5-foot-10-inch former running back earned all-conference honors at UMass from 1993-95. He scored 55 touchdowns, second in school history.
He had brief NFL stints with the Bills and the Redskins in 1997 and 1998.
He also played in NFL Europe with the Frankfurt Galaxy, scoring the gamewinning touchdown during the 1999 World Bowl.
A former teammate had a relative who worked for the Orlando Police Department and relayed that the department had job openings.
Ingoglia started as a patrol officer in 2000 before moving into a detective role, but he missed football. Coaching required too much time, so he volunteered to serve on UMass’ radio crew in 2009 and was hooked. He was hired by ESPN in 2010.
“As former player, the thing you miss the most is the camaraderie; you miss the guys in the locker room,” Ingoglia told the Orlando Sentinel in 2017. “As a broadcaster, you’re back into the game; you are a part of the game.”
He is active on his Twitter account, sharing a mix of motivational messages, public safety information that’s been well received during the pandemic, football analysis and jokes.
“There’s no passion like there is in college football,” Ingoglia said. “I love going to each campus and see people excited about the games. Just being a little part of that, it’s awesome.”