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By Roger Grossman
News Now Warsaw
Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay died last week at the age of 67.
That’s really not that old by today’s standards, but when you understand the life that he lived and the way he went about his business, it’s not that difficult to grasp.
Irsay took over from his dad in 1997 when Robert Irsay passed away. He vowed at that time to be an owner who would be leading the franchise from the front.
But, like Civil War generals experienced, those who lead from the front often take the first bullet.
And that was true of Jim Irsay.
Irsay was ironic in the sense that he was both a marketing and public relations department’s dream, while at the same time being their worst nightmare.
Why?
Irsay was so public in his communications through his personal social media accounts that it took a pretty sizable burden off their collective shoulders.
Irsay was the owner of the team, so he knew before everyone else when someone had been traded, who had been cut, who had been put on Injured Reserve, whose contract had been extended — all of it.
In a sense, he broke his own team’s stories.
He beat the “insiders” to the punch every time, and it was greatly appreciated by his core staff … most of the time.
At the same time, he did get ahead of himself and everyone else occasionally. He would say things with clunky wording or with bad timing that weren’t helpful to whatever the Colts were trying to accomplish.
The fans didn’t care. They adored him for it. They thought, “If I owned a team, I’d want to be like Jim Irsay.”
Jim Irsay loved the Colts, and he wanted them to be good. He wanted them to win and be in the mix to win titles.
He embraced the fans. He didn’t treat them as a source of revenue. He looked at himself as a fan, but a ‘fan with benefits’ that he didn’t take for granted.
That relationship with the rank-and-file of the fanbase was so strong and so deep that when the Colts won the Super Bowl after the 2006 season, Irsay made sure that some of the long-time season ticket holders got Super Bowl tickets Bowl rings.
Who does that?
Jim Irsay did.
The fans have looked at Irsay as one of their own. He was a man of the people. He was the kind of guy who any fan wearing a Colts T-shirt or jersey believed they could sit down and have a cold beverage with and talk about literally anything.
And they weren’t wrong…he did that sometimes.
But, like all of us, he had his demons.
He spent time away from the team after his arrest in 2014.
Irsay was driving, and a police officer noticed his vehicle weaving back and forth across the road, and at one point stopped in the middle of the road. The officer pulled Irsay over and he found bottles and bottles of prescription drugs that weren’t prescribed to him.
He faced multiple charges and entered a plea deal with prosecutors.
The NFL suspended him for the first six games of the following season. During that time, his daughter, Carlie Irsay-Gordon, took over the day-to-day operations of the team.
Then in January of 2024, he was found in his home by Carmel Police with his life seemingly slipping away. We know now that he had overdosed and fallen in his bathroom. He was breathing but not responsive, and the police report says Irsay’s body was cold.
An officer at the scene administered Narcan, which helped bring him back to life.
While he was in rehab, his daughter stepped in again to run the team.
The prevailing thought is that Carlie will take over control of the team on a permanent basis and she and her siblings will collectively “own” the team.
If that happens, my sense is that it would be well received by the league’s owners, the commissioner’s office, the people in the Colts organization and its fans.
Regardless of your opinion of him, there is one fact that is undeniable: Jim Irsay loved the Colts and he loved being the owner of the Colts. He loved sharing the joy of being an NFL owner because he wanted you to love his team like he did.
And Colts fans do.
His dad brought the Colts here, and Jim Irsay made us all glad he did.
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