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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now“I know a lot of you people think what Jimmy does is run a football team,” Rock & Roll Hall of Famer John Mellencamp told a crowd of more than 22,000 at a 2023 Farm Aid concert at Ruoff Music Center. “But he does so much good for this community.”
Mellencamp, a Seymour native, was talking, of course, about Jim Irsay, whose love of music rivaled his love of football and the Indianapolis Colts franchise that he inherited from his father. That day in 2023, Irsay sat on the Ruoff stage and played the Warren Zevon tune “Lawyers, Guns and Money” backed by an all-star band.
More important, he presented Farm Aid with $1 million for its work to support non-corporate agriculture. It was just one of many, many contributions Irsay made to causes he cared about in central Indiana and beyond.
Irsay died in his sleep on May 21. He was only 65, but a number of health problems in recent years meant his death was not a shock.
Irsay will be best remembered for his stewardship of the Indianapolis Colts, a franchise based in Baltimore when his father, Robert Irsay, acquired it in 1972. Jim Irsay joined the staff in 1982, two years before the team moved to Indianapolis.
Jim Irsay succeeded his father as owner in early 1997 after Robert Irsay’s death.
During Jim Irsay’s time at the helm, the Colts earned 10 division championships, two AFC championships and the club’s fourth world championship with a victory in Super Bowl XLI, though the team has recently struggled on the field, plagued by quarterback problems.
As reporter Mickey Shuey writes in a page 1A story, Irsay’s three daughters—who have long held leadership positions with the franchise—will take over the team’s ownership and management.
But locally—and nationally—Irsay will be remembered as a champion of mental health care. In collaboration with his daughters, Irsay in 2020 launched the Kicking the Stigma campaign, which has since committed more than $31 million to raising awareness and expanding treatment and research related to mental health.
It was a deeply personal issue for Irsay, who struggled with opioid abuse and whose father and grandfather struggled with alcoholism.
Kicking the Stigma’s impact includes $3 million donated to Indiana University to open the Irsay Institute, which focuses on research and training related to mental health. And the initiative has given $6.4 million in action grants to dozens of nonprofits to expand mental health treatment in Indiana and beyond.
Perhaps as important, Kicking the Stigma has used national ads featuring big-name athletes to spark conversations about mental health and treatment.
Irsay and his daughters have also donated millions of dollars to support the Irsay Family YMCA, Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital, Indiana Black Expo, Gleaners Food Bank, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Girls Inc., Wheeler Mission Center for Women & Children, Indiana University’s Irsay Family Wellness Center and the downtown Colts Canal Playspace, among others.
We are confident that Irsay’s daughters—Carlie Irsay-Gordon, Casey Foyt and Kalen Jackson—will continue the community work their father has done. In fact, we know they have been among the drivers for much of it. Our condolences to the family and good wishes as they take on the mantle of Colts management and community impact.•
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