Longtime Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay died on Wednesday, the franchise announced.
He was 65.
Specifics of his death are not yet known, though Irsay has dealt with various health issues in recent years. The Colts said that Irsay “passed away peacefully in his sleep” on Wednesday afternoon.
Irsay took over the Colts officially in 1997, when he inherited them from his father. Robert Irsay first acquired the team in 1972 for $12 million.
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The Colts had several great runs under Irsay’s watch, most notably during the 2006 campaign when quarterback Peyton Manning and head coach Tony Duny led them to a Super Bowl win over the Chicago Bears. That was the team’s first Super Bowl win since 1970, back when they were still located in Baltimore. The Colts made it back to the Super Bowl three seasons later, though they fell to the New Orleans Saints in that contest.
Irsay struggled with drugs and alcohol throughout his life, and was very open about it. He checked into a rehab center in 2014 after an arrest on driving under the influence and possession charges, which was one of 15 times in his life he had been to rehab, and he revealed in 2023 that a past overdose stopped his breathing and almost killed him. He was found unresponsive in his home in December 2023 of a suspected overdose, too.
Irsay’s public appearances dwindled after that. The Colts revealed in January 2024 that he was battling a “severe respiratory illness” after he hadn’t been seen publicly in weeks.
But even amid his struggles and his health issues, Irsay’s love for the Colts and sports throughout Indianapolis as a whole never wavered. He even posted about the Indiana Pacers — who opened their Eastern Conference finals series with the New York Knicks on Wednesday night — on social media just a few hours before his death.
This post will be updated with more information shortly.
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