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Longtime Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay has died at the age of 65, the team announced Wednesday.
Irsay’s father purchased the team in 1972, when they still played in Baltimore, for $12 million and moved the team in 1984.
Irsay was the general manager of the team from 1982 to 1996 and became the NFL’s youngest owner at age 37, shortly after his dad’s death in 1997.
Irsay had several health issues over the years and battled drug and alcohol addiction, once admitting he had been to rehab “at least 15 times.”
The Colts announced in January 2024 that Irsay was being treated for a “severe respiratory illness.” That February, he posted on X, formerly Twitter, that he was “on the mend.”
“It’s a long road and you have to be patient. The great news is everything is going well,” a hospitalized Irsay said that March after he underwent a procedure on his right leg.
Irsay said by that point he had undergone “26 surgeries over the last seven years.”
In December 2023, police were called to Irsay’s home around 4:30 a.m. and found him in bed unresponsive and cold during what authorities called a “suspected overdose.”
“It wasn’t an overdose,” Irsay told Fox 59 in Indianapolis.
“I don’t know why, when you have your name in the paper in the past, people throw that out there quickly. I don’t pay attention to it all that much, but I don’t think it’s fair.”
Irsay was arrested in 2014 and pleaded guilty to operating while intoxicated (OWI), which led to a six-game suspension and a $500,000 fine from the NFL. He said his arrest was partly due to being a White billionaire.
Irsay took ownership of the Colts in 1995 following a legal battle after the death of his father. Since then, the Colts had massive success with Peyton Manning as their quarterback, but they have been in flux since Manning left the team and Andrew Luck abruptly retired.
Over his tenure running the day-to-day operations of the organization, Irsay won 258 games, the fourth-most in the NFL in that span. He also won 10 division titles, went 1-1 in Super Bowls and made the playoffs 18 times.
He is survived by three daughters and 10 grandchildren. He and his ex-wife divorced in 2013.
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