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Stephen Holder
INDIANAPOLIS — Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay, who had led the team since 1997 and presided over one of the storied franchise’s greatest eras, died Wednesday. He was 65.
“We are devastated to announce our beloved Owner & CEO, Jim Irsay, passed away peacefully in his sleep this afternoon,” Colts chief operating officer Pete Ward said in a statement released by the team. “Jim’s dedication and passion for the Indianapolis Colts in addition to his generosity, commitment to the community, and most importantly, his love for his family were unsurpassed.”
Irsay is survived by his daughters Carlie Irsay-Gordon, Casey Foyt and Kalen Jackson; his ex-wife and his daughters’ mother, Meg Coyle; and 10 grandchildren.
Irsay-Gordon, his eldest daughter, is seen as the most involved in team operations and took her father’s place during his NFL suspension in 2014 after his DWI arrest.
“We were deeply saddened to learn of Jim Irsay’s passing today. Jim was a friend, and a man deeply committed to his family, the game, the Colts, and the Indianapolis community,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. “He led with integrity, passion and care for the Colts’ players, coaches and staff, and his courageous work in support of mental health will be a lasting legacy. … On behalf of the entire NFL, I extend my heartfelt condolences to Jim’s daughters and their families, and to his many friends throughout the NFL.”
Irsay’s health came under scrutiny when he was hospitalized after first responders found him unresponsive in his bedroom in December 2023, with police characterizing the incident in a report as a suspected overdose. The next month, after Irsay was not seen publicly for multiple weeks, the Colts said in a statement that he was being treated for a “severe respiratory illness.”
Irsay had made a few public appearances in the year since those incidents, but he had not been seen much lately. He did not attend the NFL’s annual meeting in Palm Beach, Florida, in March and was not believed to be present during last month’s NFL draft.
Earlier Wednesday, he had posted his support for the Indiana Pacers and owner Herb Simon ahead of their opening game of the Eastern Conference finals against the New York Knicks, writing, “Go PACERS. Good luck to Herb, the entire @Pacers organization, and our city!”
Irsay assumed principal ownership of the Colts at 37 years old after the death of his father, Bob, and following the conclusion of a legal battle with his stepmother. He became the NFL’s youngest owner at the time but would grow into one of its most influential during his stewardship of the club.
Irsay had been a prominent member of the NFL’s finance committee and chaired the legislative committee. Even before assuming control, he was deeply involved in league matters; Irsay was part of a group of four executives appointed by then-NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle in the 1980s to design what became the league’s salary cap.
But he balanced those official roles with a public persona that contradicted what one might expect from a billionaire NFL owner. Ever eccentric and always outspoken, Irsay gained a reputation for his colorful personality among a peer group that typically strives to avoid the spotlight.
From strumming his guitar and belting out a tune with the Jim Irsay Band to his unpredictable posts on social media, Irsay was unquestionably his own man. He would routinely hand out wads of $100 bills to fans at Colts training camp practices and was known to stage trivia contests for fans on Twitter, the winners receiving Colts tickets or even all-expense paid trips to road games or Super Bowls.
In an era where NFL owners are increasingly involved in numerous other industries, Irsay was an NFL lifer whose team was his most important asset. He had been around the league so long that he held treasured memories of rubbing shoulders with quarterback Johnny Unitas while hanging out in the locker room as a kid back in Baltimore.
That perspective is, perhaps, why Irsay’s admiration for the architects of the NFL was always clear. He was one of a handful of league owners whose presence has spanned past and current generations.
“I was taught by those that came before me,” he once said before dropping the names of legendary owners. “Wellington Mara, Lamar Hunt, Dan Rooney … and even George Halas. It really taught me to be a steward.”
Irsay oversaw a prolific period of success for the Colts. Indianapolis is the fifth-winningest organization in the NFL since Irsay officially became owner. That success followed a period of sustained futility, with the Colts suffering the eighth-most losses in the league from the time Bob Irsay moved the team to Indianapolis in 1984 until the younger Irsay assumed control.
Under Irsay’s watch, the Colts advanced to two Super Bowls, winning Super Bowl XLI after the 2006 season. Perhaps the most enduring image of Irsay is a photograph taken that night, Feb. 4, 2007. In it, he is holding the Lombardi Trophy high in his right hand, oblivious to the falling rain, basking in the franchise’s greatest moment in a generation.
Irsay spent many of the intervening years dreaming of another Super Bowl victory, only to fall short. He has said, repeatedly, in recent years, that he sensed a run that would culminate in multiple championships was beginning — only to see that dream dashed by myriad obstacles.
He once made an off-hand comment in 2019 about one day winning three straight titles, an idea that sounded preposterous seeing how the Colts haven’t won a division title since 2014.
But he defended the statement thusly: “When I said three in a row, that’s because how can you get up and go to work without accepting wanting to be the absolute best? No other thinking makes sense to me.”
Irsay was nothing if not a dreamer, but reality often had other ideas. Tom Brady’s greatness, Peyton Manning’s neck injury, Andrew Luck’s sudden retirement — each event played a role in Irsay never realizing his wishes.
In 2012, Irsay was at the center of one of the franchise’s most difficult decisions. He made the ultimate choice to release Manning, the first overall pick in the 1998 draft who is widely considered the greatest player in team history. An uncertain future because of a neck injury and the team’s financial realities brought about one of the most remarkable roster moves in league history.
In a tearful joint news conference with Manning, Irsay described the moment as “a difficult day here of shared pain between Peyton, myself, the fans — everyone.” Manning, who had played his entire career with Indianapolis until that point, said, “It’s not what either of us wanted.”
Irsay later recalled the hours after the Colts clinched the No. 1 pick in the 2012 draft on the final day of the 2011 season, paving the way to select Luck and thereby making the release of Manning a virtual certainty.
“I just broke down in tears in front of my daughters,” he told NFL.com in 2014. “Because, just the emotion of saying, ‘That era’s ended.’ And I knew in my heart that it was over.”
Outside of his family and his team, one of Irsay’s main passions was being a prominent collector. Over the years, he turned what once was little more than an expensive hobby into an identity, creating a world-renowned traveling exhibit called the Jim Irsay Collection. It includes more than 500 of the world’s most unique items, from Muhammad Ali’s championship belt from the “Rumble in the Jungle” to what many consider the world’s foremost assemblage of classic guitars.
Irsay invested richly in the collection, with estimates of his expenditures running well into the tens of millions of dollars over the past two decades. If he wanted an item badly enough, he would go to great lengths to secure it. Irsay once outbid Tampa Bay Buccaneers co-owner Ed Glazer for an Elton John piano that sold for $915,000 at auction. Irsay told ESPN last year that he declined a purchase offer for the collection from an unidentified individual in the Middle East that exceeded $1 billion.
Importantly, Irsay always insisted his most prized possession in the collection was the so-called “Big Book,” the manuscript that served as the basis for Alcoholics Anonymous. Irsay’s decades-long struggles with addiction meant the item resonated with him on a level that other items in the collection could not.
“Those 12 steps have literally saved hundreds of thousands or millions of lives,” Irsay told ESPN last year. “My grandfather died in 1927, eight years before AA was founded. And there was no hope for him. They would just stick people in sanitariums back then.
“Because of those 12 steps, I’ve been able to bridge the dam of generations and say, ‘Stop! No more!’ These families won’t be broken apart and destroyed by all the strife that goes on.”
Irsay’s father was widely known to struggle with alcoholism and is remembered by many for his fierce temper. The younger Irsay witnessed the challenges brought about by his father’s drinking but still was often unable to shake his own vices.
Irsay in November admitted in an interview with HBO Sports that he’d been to rehab at least 15 times. One of those instances is believed to have come after his 2014 arrest in Carmel, Indiana for driving under the influence. Irsay pleaded guilty later that year to one misdemeanor count and was sentenced to a year of probation.
Relatedly, the Irsay family spearheaded an effort in recent years to address mental health and addiction challenges through their “Kicking the Stigma” fundraising campaign that Irsay consistently promoted. His past struggles with addiction fueled his passion for the cause, and his standing in the league helped open doors with donors.
Since 2020, the Irsays have awarded more than $25 million in grants to organizations in the mental health space and related arenas through Kicking the Stigma.
Moving forward, ownership of the Colts is expected to be transferred to Irsay’s daughters. Each was given an ownership title in 2012 and has had active roles in the organization for years. How much of the team, if any, was transferred to the daughters remains unclear, as well as the impact of potential estate taxes.
But Irsay’s wishes have always been clear. Upon taking ownership from his father, he left no doubt about his intentions.
“We’re keeping 100% of the team,” he said, “and I’m passing it on to my children.”
