Reggie Wayne breaks down in remembrance of Jim Irsay: 'He was the Batman'

Indianapolis Star

4 days ago

INDIANAPOLIS — Reggie Wayne started to speak and caught himself. Then the Colts' all-time leader in games played leaned back from the podium, stared at the floor and began to wipe his eyes.
Exactly one week has passed since the news arrived that owner Jim Irsay had died peacefully in his sleep at the age of 65. But this Wednesday brought the first moment for Colts coaches and players to speak about the only man to have owned the team since its arrival in Indianapolis in 1997, and naturally, the member who had invested the most years, lectures, laughs and late-night conversations had the most difficult time staying composed.
But that time invested allowed him to speak from the heart.
'I told the receivers, I said, 'A lot of y'all don't really know him. He would have done anything for anybody. He would have gave the clothes off his back,'" Wayne said after collecting himself. "I said, 'Y'all don't really know him.' And luckily, like all (of) them dudes, they've just been here, right? So, you don't know nothing else. But I said, 'He cared about his players. He cared about his team, cared about the city.' And it wasn't just the players, he cared about people in the building.
"Like he was that dude."
Like his players who spoke after Wednesday's first open organized training activities practice of the spring — a group that included Kenny Moore II, DeForest Buckner, Michael Pittman Jr. and Tyquan Lewis — Wayne had anecdote after anecdote to share about an owner who had earned a reputation as one of the unique in all of pro sports.
But Wayne's memories run on a few different levels, from draft pick to star player to assistant coach, in times challenging, like his first year of coaching in 2022; and times jubilant, like the Super Bowl trophy they hoisted after the 2006 season.
But the story that popped in Wayne's mind after breaking down at the podium is from the time he felt closest to leaving the Colts prior to his final season. It was 2012, and the then five-time Pro Bowl wide receiver was 34, and he saw the writing on the wall after the team drafted T.Y. Hilton to pair with Andrew Luck the previous year.
Wayne remembers getting ready to take trips to Chicago and Kansas City when his phone wouldn't stay silent. Finally, he picked up and Irsay was on the other line.
"'Hey, Reg. What you doing?'" Wayne recalled. "I'm like, '(Expletive), I'm about to take a trip to Kansas City.' And he said, 'You know what? No, you're not taking that trip.' He said, 'Let's get this thing done.' I said, 'What took you so long to call?' And he said, 'I had to watch my favorite TV sitcom.' But he was like saying, 'We don't need no agent. We don't need nothing.' So, I actually did that deal with him by myself. I gave my agent 3% and I don't even know why."
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In Wayne's eyes, this was Irsay at his peak: in such adoration of one of his star players that he couldn't quite let go and with a checkbook at the ready to find a solution that could work. And the new investment paid off, as Wayne turned in one more 1,300-yard season to reach his sixth Pro Bowl in 2012 and wound up playing all 14 of his pro seasons with the franchise that drafted him.
All for an owner he could never lose touch with.
"It was times where I felt like (he) treated me like I was one of his sons, even though he didn't have any," Wayne said. "... So, when you lose something like that, it definitely shocks the soul.'
Irsay was an owner, a football junkie, a collector and a philanthropist. And he was all of those at different points in Wayne's life, too, including in a role that sometimes could feel like a dad.
Irsay will have a private memorial service Monday in Indianapolis, with a public remembrance coming at a later date.
"I've always said, I mean to a lot of people in the city, kids and all that stuff," Wayne said. "The athletes, they think the athletes are the real heroes. No, we were just Robin. He was the Batman.