Jim Irsay

Jim Irsay was born on June 13, 1959, in Lincolnwood, Illinois, the son of Harriet (nee Pogorzelski) and Robert Irsay, a Chicago businessman who built a fortune as a heating and air-conditioning contractor. His father came from a Hungarian Jewish family and his mother was the daughter of Polish Catholic immigrants. Jim was raised Catholic and did not learn of his father's Jewish heritage until he was fourteen.

His sister Roberta died in a car accident in 1971. His brother Thomas, born with a mental disability, died in 1999. Robert Irsay acquired the Baltimore Colts in 1972, when Jim was 12, by buying the Los Angeles Rams and swapping franchises with Carroll Rosenbloom. Jim spent his youth around the team as an on-field ball boy and helping in the ticket office. He boxed, golfed and lifted weights as a young man.

Irsay attended Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Illinois, and Mercersburg Academy in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, graduating in 1978. He went on to Southern Methodist University in Dallas, where he played linebacker for the SMU Mustangs as a walk-on until an ankle injury ended his playing career. He graduated in 1982 with a Bachelor of Arts in broadcast journalism.

Irsay joined the Colts' professional staff in 1982 and was given an orientation across the club's administrative and football operations. He joined the personnel department ahead of the 1983 season, working on college scouting and film analysis. In early 1984, immediately after the franchise relocated from Baltimore to Indianapolis, he was named vice president and general manager at 24, the youngest person to hold that title in NFL history.

After his father suffered a stroke in 1995, Irsay took over day-to-day management as senior executive vice president, general manager and chief operating officer. When Robert Irsay died in 1997, Jim won a legal battle with his stepmother over ownership and became the youngest owner in the league at 37.

The Colts won 115 regular season games from 2000 to 2009, the second-most by any team in a decade, and won Super Bowl XLI. Over his time with the club the Colts won 10 division titles, made the playoffs 18 times and reached two Super Bowls. He worked with Hall of Famers including Eric Dickerson, Marshall Faulk, Bill Polian, Tony Dungy, Marvin Harrison, Edgerrin James and Peyton Manning.

He was a vocal figure among owners. In 2009 he said he could not consider voting for a group including Rush Limbaugh that sought to buy the St. Louis Rams. In October 2022 he became the first owner to say publicly that there was merit to removing Dan Snyder as owner of the Washington Commanders. In November 2022 he drew criticism for firing coach Frank Reich and appointing former Colts center Jeff Saturday, who had no NFL coaching experience, as interim head coach.

Irsay married Meg Coyle in 1980. They had three daughters, Carlie (born 1980), Casey (born 1983) and Kalen (born 1987), and ten grandchildren. The couple separated in 2003 and Meg filed for divorce on November 21, 2013.

Outside football he built The Jim Irsay Collection of music, literary, sporting and historical memorabilia, and fronted The Jim Irsay Band, which played free concerts in cities including Nashville, Washington, Austin, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Indianapolis, San Francisco and Las Vegas.

Irsay was candid about his struggles with addiction and made mental health his main cause, arguing that the shame attached to mental illness kept people from getting help. He also spoke out on conduct within the league, saying in 2009 that inappropriate and incendiary words do damage, and later breaking ranks with fellow owners over Dan Snyder.

In late 2020 the Irsay family launched Kicking The Stigma to raise awareness of mental health disorders and remove the stigma around them. By late 2022 it had committed more than $17 million through action grants and personal donations. In December 2021 the family gave $3 million to Indiana University to create the Irsay Family Research Institute in Bloomington.

The family also supported the Irsay Family YMCA, the Colts Canal Playspace, Riley Hospital for Children, Wheeler Mission and the Indianapolis Zoo, which received $1 million in November 2022. Irsay backed former coach Chuck Pagano's Chuckstrong gala for cancer research, donating $2 million in 2021, and in 2023 he bankrolled most of the plan to return the Miami Seaquarium orca Lolita to the Pacific Northwest. Lolita died in August 2023 before the move could happen.

In 2001 Irsay paid $2.43 million for Jack Kerouac's original scroll manuscript of On the Road. In 2018 he bought a first printing of Alcoholics Anonymous annotated by co-founder Bill Wilson for $2.4 million. His guitars included instruments once owned by Elvis Presley, George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Jerry Garcia, Prince and Les Paul, and Guitar Magazine called it the greatest guitar collection on Earth in 2021.

He set records with the guitar Bob Dylan played at Newport (2014), Ringo Starr's Ludwig drum kit for $2.2 million (2017), David Gilmour's Black Strat for $3.975 million (2019) and Kurt Cobain's 1969 Fender Mustang from the Smells Like Teen Spirit video for $4.6 million (2022). He also owned Secretariat's Triple Crown saddle, Muhammad Ali's boots from the Thrilla in Manila, the Wilson volleyball from Cast Away, and letters by Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.

Irsay oversaw the Colts' rise in Indianapolis, a Super Bowl title and a long run of contention, and left the franchise to his three daughters. The team wore Jim Irsay patches throughout the 2025 season and inducted him into the Colts Ring of Honor at the 2025 season opener against the Miami Dolphins. His mental health work through Kicking The Stigma and his collection, which he shared through free concerts, are central to how he is remembered.

On March 16, 2014, Irsay was arrested in Carmel, Indiana, on suspicion of driving under the influence and drug possession, with prescription medication and more than $29,000 in cash in his car. Felony charges were pleaded down to misdemeanors, and in September 2014 he pleaded guilty to operating while intoxicated, received a year of probation, and was suspended by the NFL for six games and fined $500,000. In a 2023 Real Sports interview he said he had been arrested because he was a rich white billionaire, remarks that drew criticism. In January 2024 TMZ reported, and other outlets partly verified, that he had been found unresponsive at home in December 2023 and given Narcan.

Jim Irsay died in his sleep on May 21, 2025, at The Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles, aged 65. His death was attributed to cardiac arrest complicated by pneumonia. The Colts announced his death that day. A funeral was held on June 2, 2025, and he was buried at Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis.

On June 13, 2025, which would have been his 66th birthday, the Colts announced his Ring of Honor induction. In January 2026 it was reported that the FBI and DEA were investigating the circumstances of his death after reports that he had been treated with opioids and ketamine.