Speaking to HBO Sports’ Andrea Kremer in an episode of “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” that will air on Tuesday night, Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay detailed his troubled relationship with his father, Robert Irsay, and revealed he nearly died from a drug overdose while struggling with addiction.
“One time, I was trying to detox myself, and I mixed multiple drugs that I didn’t know anything about. And so, all of a sudden, I start slurring my words. And then cold blue, I stop breathing.
“And they revive me, and there’s a doctor who goes, ‘Jim, you’re one lucky man because I had signed virtually the death certificate.'”
Colts Jim Irsay Talks Addiction in HBO Sports Interview
In a screener provided to Pro Football Network, the 64-year-old Irsay said his parents didn’t know how to deal with the 1971 death of his sister, Roberta, or his brother Thomas’ mental disabilities.
“My mom would be like, ‘That should’ve been you in that car instead of your sister,'” Irsay said.
Meanwhile, Robert Irsay fell further into alcoholism, a disease he eventually passed on to his son. Robert’s “valley of sadness” led him deeper into drinking, and he couldn’t cope with the loss of two children.
“My dad was very embarrassed and sad,” Irsay said. “He wouldn’t keep any pictures of either of them up. And when my brother got sick and passed, he didn’t come to the funeral at all.”
Robert made his son the Colts’ general manager at just 24 years old. When Robert, who had owned the Colts since 1972, died in 1997, Jim became the club’s sole owner at age 37.
“I love my dad, and I wish things were different,” Irsay said. “But look it, when he passed and my time came, that was just fine by me.”
Did Irsay come of age after his father passed away?
“No question,” he said. “He taught me how to do it, and he taught me how not to do it. And sometimes the example of how not to do it is a powerful example, too.”
Irsay on 2014 Arrest: “I Am Prejudiced Against Because I’m a Rich White Billionaire”
Irsay, a competitive weightlifter earlier in his life, said he’s undergone 23 surgeries due to injuries brought on by lifting. Irsay, who said he hasn’t had alcohol since 2002, has been in rehab 15 times and has struggled with an addiction to painkillers.
In 2014, a woman named Kimberly Wundrum — whom Irsay described as a “girlfriend” — died after an accidental overdose in a townhome that Irsay had purchased in 2013.
“I took her to (the) Betty Ford (Clinic) and, God bless her, she tried, and she tried,” Irsay said. “She would say, ‘I just can’t wrap my arms around what it takes to be in recovery,’ and it was just so (expletive) sad.”
Two weeks later, Irsay was arrested under suspicion of DUI and drug possession in Carmel, Indiana. Irsay pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor OWI charge and was sentenced to one year of probation. The NFL suspended him for six games and fined him $500,000.
MORE: How Long Has Jim Irsay Owned the Colts?
Irsay said he was incorrectly arrested and only pleaded guilty to “get it over with.” Irsay said he had recently undergone hip surgery, which affected his ability to walk in a straight line as part of a DUI test.
“I am prejudiced against because I’m a rich white billionaire,” Irsay said. “If I’m just the average guy down the block, they’re not pulling me in.”
Asked by Kramer if he realized how that statement would sound, Irsay was defiant.
“I don’t care what it sounds like. It’s the truth. I could give a damn what people think or how anything sounds. The truth is the truth, and I know the truth.”
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