Jim Irsay — the longtime owner and CEO of the Indianapolis Colts and a prolific rock-and-roll collector — has died at age 65.
He "passed away peacefully in his sleep" on Wednesday afternoon, the Colts said in a statement, extending their sympathies to his three daughters and his entire family.
"Jim's dedication and passion for the Indianapolis Colts in addition to his generosity, commitment to the community, and most importantly, his love for his family were unsurpassed," the team wrote.
The team did not specify a cause of death, but Irsay had faced health issues and largely retreated from the public eye in recent years. His last social media post, on Wednesday, wished the Indiana Pacers luck in the NBA Eastern Conference Finals.
Irsay "spent his life and career in the National Football League," as NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell put it in a tribute.
Irsay started working for the then-Baltimore Colts as a ballboy when he was a teenager after his father, Robert, took over the team in 1972.
"Some of Jim's fondest memories came from his youth working training camps in Baltimore and growing relationships with players, coaches and staff whom he considered his extended family," the Colts said. "He worked in every department before he was named the youngest general manager in team history in 1984 when the Colts arrived in Indianapolis."
An escalating stadium dispute with the city of Baltimore prompted Robert Irsay to take the Colts out of Maryland — in a surprise, overnight move — in March 1984. Shortly after, he made his 24-year-old son the youngest NFL general manager in history.
Jim Irsay took over ownership of the Colts in 1997, after his father's death and a legal battle with his stepmother. The following year, the team — which had first pick in the draft — selected Peyton Manning, who became a cornerstone of the Colts franchise and is widely considered one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history.
Manning mourned Irsay in an Instagram post, writing that "his love for the Colts and the city of Indy was unmatched."
"He was an incredibly generous and passionate owner and I will always be indebted to him for giving me my start in the NFL," wrote Manning, who spent 13 seasons with the Colts. "His impact on the players who played for him will not be forgotten."
Under Irsay's nearly three-decade tenure, the Colts won 10 division titles, two AFC championships and — thanks in large part to Manning — the 2007 Super Bowl.
"Jim's Colts won the Super Bowl, hosted another and built Lucas Oil Stadium," Goodell said, referring to the team's home stadium, which opened in 2008. "He led with integrity, passion and care for the Colts' players, coaches and staff, and his courageous work in support of mental health will be a lasting legacy."
Irsay, who served on the NFL's legislative and finance committees, was also a prolific philanthropist who supported mental health, addiction treatment and community development efforts in Indiana and beyond. His Kicking the Stigma initiative, created in 2020, aims to raise awareness and funding for mental health causes.
Irsay was open about his own struggles with substance abuse and addiction, saying in a November 2023 interview that he had been to rehab "at least 15 times."
"When I do this work, it's to try to save and help one person, one at a time — not because of our brand, not because it looks good for the family to have a great charity," Irsay told the Associated Press in 2022. "It's the empathy and the tremendous compassion that you develop as a human being because we're taught from what we go through, we can share our strength, hope and experience to alleviate suffering from others."
The football community is honoring Irsay on Thursday, with current and former Colts players, as well NFL teams across the country, offering condolences and remembrances. Their tributes paint the picture of a man with many passions and achievements, from football to mental health to music.
"The Irsay family brought football to the state of Indiana and his philanthropic efforts will have a lasting impact for years to come," Gov. Mike Braun tweeted.
Irsay was an avid collector of music and pop culture artifacts
Irsay doesn't just leave behind a legacy in the NFL. He also leaves behind what is considered one of the greatest guitar collections in the world.
Irsay was a student of the counterculture with a lifelong passion for rock music, American history and pop culture.
"My influence from people like John Lennon and others growing up, my feeling is that you can be a lot of different things," he told the New York Times in 2005. "People like John Lennon, Pete Townshend, Bob Dylan had a huge influence — their beliefs, the way Lennon was a guy who took it to far lengths in terms of the peace movement."
Over the decades, he acquired many historic and culturally significant artifacts, from signed photos and handwritten lyrics to manuscripts and instruments owned and used by music greats including Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Prince, Eric Clapton, Elton John, Jerry Garcia, Jimi Hendrix, Pete Townshend, Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin.
He acquired one of Kurt Cobain's iconic guitars for a record $4.5 million in 2022, after which the Cobain family donated a portion of the proceeds to Kicking the Stigma.
Irsay owns Jack Kerouac's scroll of On the Road, as well as first editions of Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the boxing shoes Muhammad Ali wore during the Thrilla in Manila, one of Jackie Robinson's baseball bats and signed letters from Presidents Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln, NPR reported in 2022 — the year Irsay exhibited some of his items to the public at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Items from the "Jim Irsay Collection" have been displayed at museums around the world, from the U.S. Rock & Roll Hall of Fame to the British Library.
Irsay was a musician himself, as the lead vocalist and frontman of the Jim Irsay Band, which performed shows across the country with guest performers including John Mellencamp and Ann Wilson.
Irsay had his struggles
While Irsay was praised for his steady leadership of the Colts, his personal life was considerably more turbulent.
He was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence in 2014, with police saying he had several bottles of various prescription medications and $29,000 in cash on him at the time and prosecutors alleging he tested positive for multiple opioids.
Irsay eventually pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count. He was fined $500,000 and suspended by the NFL for six games, and checked into a drug rehab treatment facility. (Addressing the incident nearly a decade later, he said he was "prejudiced against because I'm a rich, white billionaire."
According to NFL.com, it was later revealed "that a longtime female companion had died of a drug overdose in a home owned by Irsay just days before his arrest." His wife of over 30 years, Meg Coyle, had divorced him the previous year after a decade-long separation.
In a November 2023 interview with HBO's Real Sports, Irsay opened up about a past drug overdose that stopped his breathing.
"And they revive me and the doctor goes, 'Jim, you're one lucky man because I had virtually signed the death certificate,' " he recalled.
The following month, Irsay was found unresponsive at his Carmel home in what the police report called a suspected overdose — which Irsay later denied.
Colts officials said in early January 2024 that he was being treated for a severe respiratory illness. That March, in his first public comments, Irsay said he was "doing great" after undergoing leg surgery to improve his mobility — which he said was his 26th procedure in the last seven years.
Irsay was scarcely seen in public after that point. He sparked concern among fans when he was spotted using a mobility device at the Colts' last game of the season in January 2025. CBS reports that he had recently been in a wheelchair after two separate surgeries, one stemming from a fall that impacted his nerves and another to fix a serious hematoma.
According to ESPN, Irsay did not attend the NFL's annual meeting in Florida in March or a league meeting in Minnesota this week and is not believed to have attended last month's NFL draft.
His succession plan involves his three daughters
Irsay had openly talked about keeping the Colts in the family after his death.
"We're keeping 100% of the team that I'm passing on to my children," he said upon inheriting the team himself, according to CBS Sports.
Irsay's three daughters — Carlie Irsay-Gordon, Casey Foyt and Kalen Jackson — are all involved in the team, and each currently holds the title of vice chair/owner.
Irsay-Gordon, 44, is expected to take over the football side of the franchise, the Indianapolis Star reports. She already has experience doing so, having stepped in for Irsay during his 2014 six-game suspension and his stay in rehab.
Irsay-Gordon, who was named vice president of the Colts in 2008, is "involved in all aspects of the organization, with an emphasis on football operations and the team's digital, social media, content and production operations," according to her official biography.
She and her sisters will become the youngest owners in the NFL by more than a decade, according to the Star — following in the footsteps of their dad, who was the youngest owner in the NFL when he took over the Colts at age 37.
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