Irsay’s journey with the Colts began in 1972, when his father, Robert, purchased the Los Angeles Rams and executed an audacious trade with Carroll Rosenbloom to acquire ownership of the Baltimore Colts. Irsay, then a young teenager, began working as a ballboy during training camp that summer. Quickly, he immersed himself in the culture and history of the franchise, fostering a passion for the Colts that persisted for over five decades.
Upon graduating from Southern Methodist University with a degree in broadcast journalism, Irsay began working for the Colts anywhere he was needed – including ticket sales, public relations and football operations – at the team’s former facility in Owings Mills, Md. When the team moved to Indianapolis in 1984, the 24-year-old Irsay became the youngest general manager in NFL history; he often pointed to the lessons he learned in that role as impacting the decisions he made when he assumed sole ownership of the Colts in 1997 after his father’s passing.
Among those lessons was the importance of bringing in the right people. Irsay quickly did that when, late in 1997, he hired future Pro Football Hall of Famer Bill Polian as general manager.
Through Irsay’s vision and counsel, and Polian’s eye for talent, the Colts assembled a remarkable collection of players – Peyton Manning, Edgerrin James, Reggie Wayne, Jeff Saturday, Dallas Clark, Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis among them. In 2002, Irsay hired Tony Dungy as head coach, ushering a golden era that transformed Indiana into a football state – and cemented the Colts’ central place in the region.
The pinnacle of Irsay’s five decades with the Colts came on a rainy South Florida evening in 2007, when his team triumphed, 29-17, over the Chicago Bears to win Super Bowl XLI. When the Colts returned from damp warmth of Miami to the freezing February cold of Indianapolis, fans packed the city’s downtown streets to welcome a Lombardi Trophy to their…
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