Chicago's very own: Jim Irsay (1959-2025)

Colts owner Jim Irsay's untimely death at 65 last week was more saddening than stunning, given his history of addiction and rehab stints. But the outpouring of appreciation for the indelible mark he left on everyone associated with the Colts, the city of Indianapolis, the NFL and just about anyone who ever met him was heartwarming. Jim had the blessing and curse of being the son of a millionaire NFL owner, but he will be remembered for the power of his own personality.

Jim was once a Colts ballboy who became a general manager at 25 and an owner at 37, but he wasn't quite a rags-to-riches story. Still, his path toward ownership of the Colts is pretty interesting. He was born in suburban Lincolnwood in 1959, grew up in Winnetka and ultimately inherited the Colts from his father, Robert Irsay, who had his own unique way of doing things.

Bob Irsay was a native Chicagoan who went to Lane Tech and became a self-made millionaire as a sheet metal and heating-and-air-conditioning contractor (among his clients were Disneyland and Disney World in the early '70s). Bob was a big Bears fan who used to take his 85-foot yacht to Chicago's lakefront to avoid parking hassles at Soldier Field in the '70s. If he could have bought the Bears from George Halas, he would have.

Instead, he took a path toward ownership that can only be described as Irsay-esque. In 1972, he bought the Los Angeles Rams (whose owner Dan Reeves had recently died) and traded the Rams to Carroll Rosenbloom for the Colts. It was the first time professional franchises had ever been traded, and there were legal and tax-implication hoops that had to be jumped through, but Irsay managed it.

Chicagoan Robert Irsay bought the Rams and then traded them to Carroll Rosenbloom for the Colts in 1972.

His timing wasn't great. The Colts had won the Super Bowl just 17 months earlier, but with Hall of Fame quarterback Johnny Unitas fading and Bert Jones (the No. 2 pick in the 1973 draft) very good but no Unitas, the Colts hit the skids. They made the playoffs three times in nine seasons and did not win a postseason game before Irsay awkwardly moved the Colts to Indianapolis in 1984 — literally leaving in the dead of night without any announcement.

The Rams, meanwhile, flourished under Rosenbloom in Los Angeles. They made the playoffs in eight consecutive seasons after Rosenbloom acquired the team, with five appearances in the NFC Championship Game and one appearance the Super Bowl (a 31-19 loss to the Steelers in Super Bowl XIV in 1980). The trade couldn't have been more lopsided.

Jim Irsay, the former Colts ball boy, had already been promoted to general manager in Baltimore, succeeding Ernie Accorsi with virtually no experience — he was 24 and just two years removed from SMU. The Colts struggled in Indianapolis until Bob Irsay hired Bill Tobin — the former Bears' vice president of player personnel — as vice president of football operations.

But they really blossomed after a 3-13 season in 1997 under Lindy Infante, when Jim Irsay — who officially became the. Colts' owner in January of 1997 after his father's death — fired Infante and Tobin and traded a third-round draft pick to hire Bill Polian from the Panthers.

It was Polian who took Peyton Manning over Ryan Leaf with the No. 1 overall pick in the 1998 draft and the Colts and Jim Irsay were on their way. (Poor Lindy Infante was fired by the Packers the year before they acquired Brett Favre and by the Colts the year before they drafted Peyton Manning.)

Just as George "Mugs" Halas helped revive the Bears fortunes — spearheading the hiring of Jim Finks as GM in 1974 — Jim Irsay was a credit to the family and its business. The Colts won Super Bowl XLI over the Bears in 2007. Irsay artfully navigated the transition from Manning to Andrew Luck. The Colts haven't recovered from Luck's sudden retirement before the 2019 season — they've made the playoffs just once in six seasons. But Jim Irsay's impact on Indianapolis and the Colts is indelible. He's getting the credit he deserves.