{"id":88292,"date":"2025-05-29T15:33:13","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T15:33:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/88292\/"},"modified":"2025-05-29T15:33:13","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T15:33:13","slug":"emotional-indianapolis-colts-coach-breaks-down-in-floods-of-tears-over-caring-jim-irsay-after-his-death-at-age-of-65","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/88292\/","title":{"rendered":"Emotional Indianapolis Colts coach breaks down in floods of tears over &#8216;caring&#8217; Jim Irsay after his death at age of 65"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>AN INDIANAPOLIS Colts icon and current coach shared a tearful tribute while reflecting on the loss of owner Jim Irsay.<\/p>\n<p>The longtime <a href=\"https:\/\/www.the-sun.com\/topic\/indianapolis-colts\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Colts<\/a> owner Irsay died suddenly at the age of 65 last week.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay at a podium.\" height=\"639\" width=\"960\" data-credit=\"Getty\" data-img=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/crop-14296765_4e8a1f.jpg\" data-caption=\"Longtime Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay died shockingly at the age of 65 last week\"   loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/crop-14296765_4e8a1f.jpg\" role=\"img\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>4<\/p>\n<p>Longtime Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay died shockingly at the age of 65 last weekCredit: Getty<a href=\"#\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Reggie Wayne at a press conference.\" height=\"512\" width=\"960\" data-credit=\"8 News\" data-img=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/8825e222-7993-4b0c-a1cd-dc8b8308c8af.jpg\" data-caption=\"Colts coach and team legend Reggie Wayne was emotional over Irsay's death during a press conference\"   loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/8825e222-7993-4b0c-a1cd-dc8b8308c8af.jpg\" role=\"img\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>4<\/p>\n<p>Colts coach and team legend Reggie Wayne was emotional over Irsay&#8217;s death during a press conferenceCredit: 8 News<\/p>\n<p>The Colts family has continued to reel after the shocking death of Irsay last Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>Colts&#8217; legendary wide receiver and current receivers coach Reggie Wayne was full of emotion when speaking about Irsay during the team&#8217;s OTA practice on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>Wayne knew Irsay as he played under him during his 14 years as a player.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;A lot of y&#8217;all don&#8217;t really know him,&#8221; Wayne told reporters at a press conference as he fought back tears.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He would have did anything for anybody. He really gave the clothes off his back.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He cared about his players. He cared about his team.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;And it wasn&#8217;t just the players, he cared about people in the building.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He was that dude.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Wayne added that everyone needed &#8220;to push their ass for him&#8221; and for his players to read about him.<\/p>\n<p>A 2001 Colts first-round pick, Wayne earned six Pro Bowl nods and caught passes from the Hall of Famer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.the-sun.com\/who\/peyton-manning\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Peyton Manning<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Pittsburgh Steelers tipped to make Aaron Rodgers announcement next week &#8211; but with major concerns over quarterback<\/p>\n<p>Wayne was part of a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.the-sun.com\/topic\/super-bowl\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Super Bowl<\/a> 41-winning squad in 2007.<\/p>\n<p>He played his last season in 2014 and retired two years later.<\/p>\n<p>Irsay added him to the team&#8217;s Ring of Honor in 2018.<\/p>\n<p>In 2022, Wayne returned to the Colts as their receivers coach.<\/p>\n<p>The franchise revealed a special patch they&#8217;ll wear on their jersey in memory of Irsay for the upcoming season.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Reggie Wayne, Indianapolis Colts wide receivers coach, at a game.\" height=\"960\" width=\"640\" data-credit=\"Getty\" data-img=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/indianapolis-colts-wide-receivers-coach-998988000.jpg\" data-caption=\"Wayne has been the Colts' wide receivers coach since 2022\"   loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/indianapolis-colts-wide-receivers-coach-998988000.jpg\" role=\"img\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>4<\/p>\n<p>Wayne has been the Colts&#8217; wide receivers coach since 2022Credit: Getty<\/p>\n<p>The patch will feature his initials and signature with his trademark smiley face.<\/p>\n<p>The Colts also shared that there will be a private ceremony for Irsay next week.<\/p>\n<p>Irsay, who took over the team&#8217;s ownership after his father died in 1997, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.the-sun.com\/sport\/14295058\/indianapolis-colts-jim-irsay-dead\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">died peacefully in his sleep on May 21<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>His children will <a href=\"https:\/\/www.the-sun.com\/sport\/14298836\/who-owns-indianapolis-colts-jim-irsay-died\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">claim ownership of the team moving forward<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Reggie Wayne #87 of the Indianapolis Colts running during a game.\" height=\"960\" width=\"640\" data-credit=\"Getty\" data-img=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/87-indianapolis-colts-runs-game-998988041.jpg\" data-caption=\"Wayne made the Pro Bowl six times and earned two Second-team All-Pro nods during his Colts tenure\"   loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/87-indianapolis-colts-runs-game-998988041.jpg\" role=\"img\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>4<\/p>\n<p>Wayne made the Pro Bowl six times and earned two Second-team All-Pro nods during his Colts tenureCredit: Getty<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AN INDIANAPOLIS Colts icon and current coach shared a tearful tribute while reflecting on the loss of owner&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88293,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2059],"tags":[2005,7,2004,392,2381,6,578],"class_list":{"0":"post-88292","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-indianapolis-colts","8":"tag-colts","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-indianapolis","11":"tag-indianapolis-colts","12":"tag-indianapoliscolts","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-section-sportamerican-football"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114591852512399127","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88292\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}