Some may remember Irsay for helping the Colts become one of the more respectable franchises in the NFL. In 28 seasons under the owner, the Colts won their only Super Bowl in Indianapolis and made the playoffs 18 times.
However, most fans probably don’t know he was an avid collector of musical instruments, American history artifacts and pop culture items.
“The list of items, spanning centuries, is extraordinary,” wrote Forbes’ Steve Baltin in February 2022. “And regardless of your area of interest, there will be something there that will blow your mind.”
For music lovers, he owned over 200 guitars from artists such as Bob Dylan, Eddie Van Halen and Prince. For American history buffs, he had a copy of the Declaration of Independence. For sports fans, he had the shoes boxer Muhammad Ali wore during his 1975 bout against Joe Frazier, nicknamed the “Thrilla in Manila.”
Let’s not forget the original manuscript of Jack Kerouac’s 1957 novel “On the Road,” written on a 120-foot-long scroll.
Irsay could’ve fetched billions for his extraordinary collection, but it held too much sentimental value for the owner.
“I’ve been offered $1.15B for the collection in totality by someone in the Middle East,” Irsay told ESPN’s Stephen Holder in July 2023. “I turned it down because, to me, No. 1, it’s priceless. And No. 2, I never started the collection for that reason, to look at it and say, ‘Oh, this is going to be a great investment.'”
Irsay also liked to share. Instead of permanently storing his collection, he put it on tour. Since September 2021, the collection has been exhibited in New York, Washington, D.C., Austin, Los Angeles and Nashville.
“I want no money,” Irsay said at a tour in New York in June 2022, via Reuters’ Alicia Powell. “This is my effort to make the world a better place… It’s to allow people to see it and share these things.”
Without these tours, the public likely wouldn’t have seen most of these items, which would’ve been a shame. Irsay’s eclectic collection seems like a sight to behold.
