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Jim Irsay was a great team owner, especially considering the circumstances of his evolution into that position ...... Jim was assigned the task of rebuilding a franchise that was in tatters for a good portion of his father's tenure (1972-1997.) He started out as a 16-year-old waterboy for the 1975 Baltimore Colts, was hired as the team's GM in 1984, and became the team's owner when his father died in January of 1997.
When Jim was the GM of the team, he pulled off a blockbluster trade for Eric Dickerson to immediately give the franchise respectability and a much-needed shot in the arm ...... with the best running back in the game on board, the Colts immediately won the AFC East in 1987, followed that up with a winning season in 1988, and a .500 season in 1989. At the time, the notion of the Indianapolis Colts having 3 consecutive non-losing seasons was unheard of, as that had not happened since their days in Baltimore from 1975 through 1977.
What really makes me admire Jim the most was the reunion that he held in 2009 for his favorite Colts team ever ...... the 1975 Baltimore Colts. Jim was the team owner of the 2006 Colts team that won the Super Bowl, and was the GM for the 1995 Colts team that came within a hair of advancing to the Super Bowl against the Dallas Cowboys ...... but his favorite Colts team
EVER was the 1975 Colts, a team in which he was just a 16 year-old waterboy for !!!
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l In terms of "keeping it real" and not being pretentious, that's about as good as it gets. A billionaire who owned a professional sports franchise chose to have a reunion for a team that he was a teen-age waterboy for.
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I never met Jim, but if I had I would have asked him if he would consider co-retiring the number "88" for both John Mackey and Marvin Harrison ...... similar to the New York Yankees co-retiring the number "8" for both Bill Dickey and Yogi Berra. If nothing else, Jim often thought outside of the box, which I believe was one of the things that made him such a cool team owner and a cool person overall.
Some people have said that Jim was an eccentric nutcase, and he may have been ...... but he was
OUR nutcase ...... thank you for everything that you did for both the Baltimore Colts and the Indianapolis Colts, Jim.
Sincerely,
Patrick Colon (Colts And Orioles)
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