Jim Irsay
James Irsay (born June 13, 1959) is an American businessman and the principal owner, chairman, and CEO of the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL).
Indianapolis Colts
The son of businessman Robert Irsay (1923–1997), who acquired the Baltimore franchise in 1972 for $12 million and moved them to Indianapolis in 1984, Irsay was general manager of the Colts from 1984 to 1996.
Early life and education[edit]
Irsay was born in Lincolnwood, Illinois, the son of Harriet (née Pogorzelski) and Chicago businessman Robert Irsay.[1] His father was from a Hungarian Jewish[2] family and his mother was the daughter of Polish Catholic immigrants. Irsay was raised Catholic, and did not know about his father's Jewish heritage until he was fourteen.[3][4] Jim's brother, Thomas Irsay, was born with a mental disability and died in 1999, and his sister, Roberta, died in a car accident in 1971.
Irsay's father, Robert Irsay, built a fortune estimated to be over $150 million through successful heating and air-conditioning companies.[5]
Irsay attended high school at Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Illinois, a suburb just north of Chicago; and at Mercersburg Academy '78, Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. After high school, he attended, and graduated from, Southern Methodist University in 1982 with a degree in broadcast journalism. Irsay played linebacker for the SMU Mustangs football team as a walk-on,[6] but an ankle injury ended his playing career.[7]
Irsay boxed, played golf, and lifted weights in his younger years.[7]
Career[edit]
Irsay was 12 years old when his father, Robert Irsay, acquired the Baltimore Colts, after initially purchasing the Los Angeles Rams, then swapping franchises with Colts owner Carroll Rosenbloom. After graduating from SMU in 1982, he joined the Colts' professional staff. He was made part of the team's personnel department in 1983.[7] He was named vice president and general manager in early 1984, immediately after the Colts relocated from Baltimore to Indianapolis.[7]
After his father suffered a stroke in 1995, Jim assumed day-to-day management with the role of senior executive vice president, general manager and chief operating officer in April 1996. When his father died in 1997 Jim engaged in a legal battle with his stepmother over ownership of the team, but later became the youngest NFL team owner at that time at 37.
According to Pro Football Reference, the 258 wins are the fourth-most in the NFL over that time frame.[8] The team has won 10 division titles, made the playoffs 18 times, appeared in two Super Bowls and won Super Bowl XLI.[9][10] Indianapolis won 115 regular season games from 2000 to 2009, which is the second-most in a decade by any NFL team.[11][12]
Since joining the organization in 1984, Irsay has worked with numerous Pro Football Hall of Fame coaches, players and executives, including Eric Dickerson (Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 1999), Marshall Faulk (2011), Bill Polian (2015), Tony Dungy (2016), Marvin Harrison (2016), Edgerrin James (2020) and Peyton Manning (2021).[13]
In 2009, Irsay was vocal about preventing a group that included talk-show host Rush Limbaugh from purchasing the St. Louis Rams. "I, myself, couldn't even consider voting for him," Irsay said at an NFL owners meeting. "When there are comments that have been made that are inappropriate, incendiary and insensitive... our words do damage, and it's something we don't need",[14] referring to comments Limbaugh made about Donovan McNabb in 2003, when he was an NFL commentator for ESPN. Irsay has made political contributions to John Edwards and Harry Reid.
In October 2022 at a National Football League owner's meeting, Irsay said he believed "that there's merit to remove Daniel Snyder as the owner of the Washington Commanders" amid calls for Snyder to sell the franchise.[15]
Irsay came under scrutiny in November 2022 when he fired Colts head coach Frank Reich after a 3–5–1 start to the season and replaced him with former Colts player Jeff Saturday as interim head coach. Saturday previously had no coaching experience beyond the high school football level, and was employed as an NFL analyst for ESPN at the time of his hiring.[16][17]
Philanthropy[edit]
Irsay and his family have donated to various projects and programs across Indiana, including the Irsay Family YMCA,[18][19] the downtown Indianapolis Colts Canal Playspace,[20] Riley Hospital for Children,[21][22] Wheeler Mission Center for Women & Children,[23] Indiana University's Irsay Research Institute[24] and many others.
On November 20, 2022, Irsay donated $1 million to the Indianapolis Zoo. The zoo is currently undergoing a renovation and the gift will assist with the building of a new Indianapolis Colts Welcome Center Plaza.[25] The project is set to be complete by Memorial Day 2023.[26][27][28][29]
In late 2020, the Irsay family launched Kicking The Stigma, which is dedicated to "raise awareness about mental health disorders and to remove the shame and stigma too often associated with these illnesses."[30] The foundation has numerous partner organizations, including Mental Health America of Indiana,[31] National Alliance on Mental Illness of Greater Indianapolis,[32] Project Healthy Minds[33] and Bring Change to Mind.[34] As of late 2022, Kicking The Stigma had committed more than $17 million (through action grants and personal donations by the Irsay family) towards its initiatives. In 2022, a total of $1.4 million in action grants were distributed to 23 nonprofits and organizations in the mental health sector.[35] In 2021, the action grants totaled $2.7 million and were gifted to 16 groups.[36]
In December 2021, the Irsay family donated $3 million to Indiana University to create a research institute dedicated to studying mental health and the stigma associated with it.[37] The donation was an extension of Kicking The Stigma. Named the Irsay Family Research Institute,[38] the center will be located on IU's Bloomington campus in Morrison Hall. Some of the focuses of the center will be providing support for research, analyzing sociomedical sciences, advancing more graduates trained in the mental health field and promoting mental health more locally and nationally.[39]
Irsay has been a staunch supporter of former Colts Head Coach Chuck Pagano, who beat acute promyelocytic leukemia after being diagnosed in September 2012. Pagano, who was head coach of the team from 2012 to 2017, hosts his Chuckstrong Tailgate Gala every year in Indianapolis. Since 2012, the galas have raised more than $12 million for research at the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center,[40] where Pagano received treatment.[41] The gala has been hosted at the Colts' Indiana Farm Bureau Football Center[42] as well as Jim Irsay's house. In 2021, Irsay hosted the gala at his house and donated $2 million to the IU cancer research after Pagano made a free throw for $1 million and 10 layups for $100,000 apiece on Irsay's basketball court.[43]
On March 30, 2023, the Miami Seaquarium announced that Lolita, the park's sole captive orca, would be returned to her natal waters in the Pacific Northwest.[44][45] Irsay was involved in bankrolling the necessary funds to relocate and release Lolita and her pacific white-sided dolphin companions, Li'i and Loke. The process of moving the animals was expected to take between 18 and 24 months and cost an estimated $15–20 million, the majority of which would be bankrolled by Irsay.[46] Lolita died on August 18, 2023, before this could be accomplished.