Jim Ilsai, the owner of the legendary Colts, dies
Jim Ilsai, owner of the Indianapolis Colts, passed away at the age of 65.
A report by The Washington Post said Jim Ilsai, a former Indianapolis Colts owner, received three overdoses in the last five years of his life and was prescribed ketamine by a “luxury” doctor who signed Irsay’s death certificate in California when he died in May.
The post cited interviews with five people who spoke anonymously due to fear of retaliation from the Colts and obtained prescription records, flight data and law enforcement reports.
Opening up about alcohol and opioid addiction, Irsay claimed he had been pretty for years. However, the post found evidence that he had received three overdose since 2020. First, he was airlifted from Turks and Caicos in February 2020. Next came in December 2023 at my home outside of Indianapolis, and again at a resort in Florida 12 days later.
Irsay’s public appearance declined with his health, and he was significantly more difficult to walk or stand during the 2024 season.
According to the Post, Dr. Harry Harrowtunian, a well-known addiction expert based in Southern California, treated Ilsai with ketamine in the final months of his life. No toxicology reports or autopsy was conducted, according to the post.
“I dedicated 18 months of my life to look after him… as a brother,” Hautznian told the Post. “We did everything we could to make him as comfortable as possible.”
The team is currently owned by Irsay’s three daughters, Carlie Irsay-Gordon, Casey Foyt and Kalen Jackson. Irsay-Gordon will become governor and CEO of the league meeting team.
“Our dad was open about his struggle with addiction and mental health. He never claimed to be perfect,” Irsay’s daughters wrote in an email in the post. “The media is not a place to deal with information inquiries that are contested, lacking essential context or involve private medical issues.”
In 2022, Irsay and The Colts launched Kicking the Stigma, a charity based on being transparent about addiction and health issues.
“We can be examples through death, or examples through life,” Irsay told Indianapolis Star in 2022, part of the USA Today network.
Irsay owned the Colts in 1984 and moved from Baltimore to Indianapolis, and in 1997 his father, Robert, who inherited the Colts after Robert’s death, became the youngest general manager (24) in league history in 1984.
