National Football League

Irsay's leadership alters image of Colts, city

Published Jan. 30, 2010 5:03 a.m. ET

foxsports

Jim Irsay still treasures the memories from his early, carefree days in the NFL.

Like other ball boys, he mingled with the Colts' stars, listened to their stories and complaints, and got a firsthand glimpse into the rough and tumble world of pro football.

For Irsay, this was not just some easy summer job, it was a full-fledged apprenticeship that came with myriad lessons - some of which he continues to rely on more than three decades later as the Colts owner.

``Basically, the thing that you really get to learn is how important everyone is in the organization,'' he said. ``When I see our ball boys and the guys who work in equipment, I can totally relate to everything they have to do and those responsibilities. You really, really learn what it's about with players, and all of those intimate moments you share are just invaluable.''

Perhaps that's the reason Irsay stands where he is today, with his team ready to play for its second Super Bowl title in four years. A win over New Orleans next week would allow the Colts (16-2) to stake their claim as the decade's best team, and create even more fervor for the NFL club in a city and state historically dominated by basketball.

The Colts of 2009-10 bear no resemblance to the team Irsay inherited in 1997 after the death of his father, Robert.

Back then the Colts were engaged in a seemingly endless quest to be as good as the Bills or the Dolphins or the Broncos or some other AFC power. Occasionally, Indy got near the top, never to it.

So the younger Irsay wasted no time in making changes.

Following a 3-13 season in 1997, Irsay brought in a football man, Bill Polian, architect of Buffalo's Super Bowl teams, to run his organization. He hired a disciplinarian, Jim Mora, to be the coach. He took Peyton Manning with the first pick in the 1998 draft, and he met with financial advisers to make sure he had enough outside income to keep the Colts competitive in one of the league's smallest markets.

The combination worked wonders.

``Having the ability to grow assets outside the team allowed me to use personal resources to infuse the team with capital,'' Irsay said this week. ``That's something that's critically important because as an owner you have to have the ability financially to do what you need to be able to do.''

Irsay's master plan, which he started putting together in 1995, turned Indianapolis into a model franchise, in stark contrast to his father's days.

The Colts of the 1980s and most of the '90s were best known for changing coaches, missing on draft picks, and, of course, the midnight move from Baltimore.

Jim Irsay preferred stability.

Polian is now in his 12th season as team president, and the only coach Irsay fired was Mora, after the 2001 season. Manning has just won his league-record fourth MVP award and the coaching staff has remained relatively unchanged since Tony Dungy arrived in Indy in 2002.

On the field, nobody can quibble with the results.

Indy now holds NFL records for longest regular-season winning streak (23), most wins in a decade (115) and most consecutive 12-win seasons (seven). That consistent success has created a city full of blue-and-white jerseys, where the citizens now wear their Colts clothing with as much pride as they once did Pacers, Hoosiers and Boilermakers attire.

``This town really was a basketball city when we first got here,'' said defensive tackle Raheem Brock, who joined the Colts in 2002. ``Even when we got into the playoffs, people wasn't really into it. We've really turned this city around and everyone's accepting of how good we're playing. The guys coming in, sometimes, weren't big draft picks, but they know how to play Colts football.''

How did Irsay make such a stark change?

By combining the business sense of his successful father and the hands-on lessons he learned growing up in the NFL.

Irsay cherry-picked ideas from all of his experiences - from tossing balls to John Unitas and Bert Jones to being involved in the owners' discussions about the 1982 strike and the rival U.S. Football League.

``I was blessed to be able to really be an owner-in-training and at the only school, the only university that offers the course,'' he said. ``That is being in the league, being in NFL meetings, being around the franchise.''

But the classic rock 'n' roll fan with a degree broadcast journalism from SMU still found himself getting advice from an unlikely contingent - old-guard leaders such as Wellington Mara of the Giants, Lamar Hunt of the Chiefs and Dan Rooney of the Steelers - when he joined the Colts' front office in 1982.

Like them, Irsay understood the importance of history and integrity of the game.

Like them, he had a personal investment in the game.

And like those three, Irsay's players respect him.

``He's everything you could ask for in an owner,'' Manning said. ``He's committed to winning. He'll do whatever he feels necessary to help our team win, providing us with the resources. You like playing for that kind of owner, in that kind of environment. He's competitive and knows the game of football. Yet he doesn't meddle, doesn't come to practice, doesn't come down to the sidelines during the games.''

Now, the 50-year-old Irsay is guiding his children down a similar path.

Carlie Irsay Gordon, who is pursuing a doctoral degree in clinical psychology at Argosy University in Dallas, was named one of the team's vice presidents in 2008.

Casey Irsay Foyt, who married race-car driver A.J. Foyt IV last summer, also holds a vice president's title. She's been attending NFL owner's meetings to get more accustomed to the league's inner-workings, just like her father did more than three decades ago.

They are described in the team's media guide as the next generation of ownership for the Colts, and Dad wants his daughters to approach the task the same way he did - by getting involved from the ground up.

``They're going to be owners and you plan on giving them that macro-financial lesson that they need no matter what,'' Jim Irsay said. ``You want them to get an understanding of what's going on and the history of the game.

``It was a big advantage to have all that exposure and literally work every position in the organization from ball boy up. Having worked in the ticket office and answered the phone and having scouted and been on the road and staying at motels and carrying your own projector around in those days, it was just invaluable. It's the only university that exists like it.''