Colt Owner Robert Irsay Dies at 73

Robert Irsay, who in 1984 sneaked the Colts out of Baltimore in the middle of the night to Indianapolis, died today, more than a year after suffering a stroke. He was 73.

Irsay, owner of the Indianapolis Colts, died at Indiana University Medical Center. He had been in and out of hospitals since suffering the stroke Nov. 29, 1995.

After making steady progress through much of the year after that, Irsay had what his wife, Nancy, called a “very serious setback” in August, when he developed pneumonia that forced a 41-day stay at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

Irsay returned to his Carmel, Ind., home in September, but he was hospitalized again less than two months later for a heart-rhythm disorder. He came home again in mid-December.

The Colts’ owner was vilified in Baltimore for moving the team, one of pro football’s most storied franchises.

Irsay, who earned a reputation as a meddlesome, tightfisted tyrant in Baltimore, claimed he was driven out of the city by a hostile news media. He generally kept a low profile in Indianapolis, turning over almost all of the day-to-day operations and player negotiations to his son, even before his stroke.

In his first news conference in Indianapolis, Irsay said the main reason he decided to leave Baltimore was that “you people of the press were hounding my family for two years, and I wasn’t about to take any more of your hounding.”

The final straw, he said, was the Maryland legislature’s action to allow seizure of the team through eminent domain.

“That’s against everything the United States stands for,” Irsay said. “It’s not your ball team, it’s not their ball team. It’s my family’s ball team. I paid for it, and I worked for it.”

Irsay, who was born in Chicago and made his fortune in heating and air conditioning, became owner of the Colts in 1972 in a trade with Carroll Rosenbloom for the Los Angeles Rams.

In addition to his wife, Nancy, and son, Jim, he is survived by another son, Tom, and three granddaughters.