It’s been 41 years since former Colts head coach Rick Venturi helped the Irsay family pack the Mayflower vans for Indianapolis as the request of young Jimmy Irsay. The lifer NFL coach schools Nestor on the Jim Irsay he grew to knew and worked for after the Baltimore Colts moved to Indy in the middle of night on March 28, 1984.
Rick Venturi, former coach of the Indianapolis Colts, shared his memories of Jim Irsay, reflecting on their 43-year friendship and professional journey. Venturi recounted Irsay’s early days with the Baltimore Colts, their move to Indianapolis in 1984, and Irsay’s rise to CEO. He highlighted Irsay’s hands-on approach, deep football knowledge, and unfiltered nature. Venturi praised Irsay’s leadership, which led to the Colts’ success, including drafting Peyton Manning and winning multiple division championships. He also noted Irsay’s philanthropic efforts and his collection of Americana, estimated at a billion dollars.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Jim Irsay, Indianapolis Colts, Baltimore Colts, Rick Venturi, NFL coaching, team ownership, Peyton Manning, football legacy, philanthropy, mental health, Americana collection, preseason games, Mayflower move, football operations, charity work.
SPEAKERS
8Rick Venturi, Nestor Aparicio
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T, am 1570 task of Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive. We are a positively into the spring and summer months. And it’s not often that I that I go back to Indianapolis and talk about the Colts the loss of Jim Irsay last week, and my sit down with him from 2010 that I ran on the air. And we talked to some folks about Jim Mercier. But no one will have better stories than this guy. One time egg coach of the Indianapolis Colts, one time coach of the Baltimore Colts. And a man who was there with the mayflowers out at Owings Mills on March 28 1984 returns here to talk about the legacy of the earth. Say, family, we welcome coach. Rick venturi, a longtime friend of the program I’ve had you wanted Super Bowls. It’s so nice to chase you down, so terrible under these circumstances. But I know you were very, very fond of Jim, or say, Rick
Rick Venturi 00:59
Yeah. Nestor, there’s no question about it. It’s been a tough week, you know. And you can relate. And the people in Baltimore can relate to this. Jim and I go back 43 years. So you know, people here lost an owner, a philanthropist, all those things. I lost a dear friend, to be honest with you, over the years. We started there in 1982 basically started together, you know, I was a rookie coach with the Baltimore Colts. Jim was in his early 20s, just, you know, just there, kind of learning the business, and really and truly, we grew up in the organization. I remember the first time that I met him. I was walking down the hall at Owings Mills, and here comes this young guy with the guitar on his back. You know, I mean, anybody that knows Jim has knows that he lived in a world somewhere between George Callis and Keith Richards, to tell you the truth, and we talked music. We’re close enough in age. We talked music, we talked football forever in those early those early couple of years there with Baltimore, when we really just weren’t very good at all. Although the second year, we showed some promise in 83 I remember, as you do and paint overs around the move, I can remember it almost minute here. I’ve talked a lot about it. And of course, Jim was the guy in house. He didn’t trigger the deal. Dad triggered the deal, but he was the guy in house that pulled us all together that night. And, you know, said the deal has been done. We’re on our way to Indianapolis. You’ll help in the move. And you know, the trucks will be here at 11. I mean, I can just remember that like yesterday, and then we moved here in the early years. Weren’t good. We did. We did go to the that. We did make the first playoff appearance for the Indianapolis Colts in 87 had a really good defense, led the league that year. And then my my other big experience was in 91 I took over for Ron Meyer in the middle of the season as head coach. And at that point now, Jim had worked his way up to being actually the general manager, the really the CEO of the operation by 91 and it was that year I think we went 11 games together. We met every day, Nestor, every single day, on football, on game plans, on how to handle his father. I mean, really, it, truly, it was a, really, a bond that we, that we, that we forged together. And then, and this was one of the worst days of my life. But when I think back on it, when I was let go from the Colts in 93 Jim called me in his office, and I know he didn’t want to do it. He gave me a horseshoe. I have it next door to me, right next in the adjacent desk. He gave me a horseshoe that day, and he said, you’ll, you know, you’re a horseshoe forever. And you know, I thought about that for a long time. Then I went my way, 25 years away, and then Jim was good enough to bring me back in the twilight here of my career and my life and to give me an opportunity to have a second act in broadcasting. And when he brought me back, you know, I was wondering, you know, I’m pretty unfiltered. I had come from Saint Louis and had that reputation of being totally unfiltered. And I asked him, I said, Now what? What’s your expectation for me? And he. Looked at me and he said, Hey, Rick, just be Rick. And we established a tradition. Once I started doing the Colts game, he would come in on the last home preseason game, and he would come in the booth and he would do the interview with me. And sometimes it would be a quarter, sometimes it would be a whole half of the game. And, you know, sometimes it was controversial, but he was always candid. I think he was comfortable with me, always very candid and unfiltered. And so, you know, again, that 43 years it encompassed so much. It’s, it’s, it’s a tough loss.
Nestor Aparicio 05:47
Our guest is Rick venturi, a one time coach of the Colts and friend of Jim Irsay and broadcaster with the Colts in the radio network and now in Indianapolis, you mentioned unfiltered, Jim was kind of unfiltered, wasn’t he?
8Rick Venturi 06:04
Yeah, he really was, you know, and whether you liked it or not, you know what, you know, he was going to say what he meant and what he believed. And, you know, at times, at times it was controversial. At times he he got into a little bit of trouble with it, because he would say exactly what he believed, particularly in those interviews with me. It was on, it was absolutely incredible. But, you know, again, he was a in that sense, really, really an honest, honest guy, you know, I think maybe the best thing that his father did in ownership of the Colts was that when Jimmy was that young guy, when he was in his 20s, he forced him to work in every area of the team. In other words, he was in the equipment room handing out towels. He worked in in the business end of it, the administrative end of it, you know, made him learn the advertising of the team, and then he would he worked in the scouting department for a couple years. Then he worked with us in coaching for two years. So, as opposed to most owners in the NFL who are very, very wealthy and by NFL team teams, even though they didn’t know the game. Jim actually was a football guy, a terrific football guy. I don’t think there’s any doubt about I. I don’t think he has an equal in the NFL as an owner, from the standpoint of actually knowing the X’s and O’s of the game. I tell them the NFL, six of the six, five of them, five owners, always requested the TV copy of the game to watch. Now, why is that Nestor? Because they wanted to have commentary, and they wanted the commentators and analysts to tell them what went on in the game. The only one of the of the six that watched the coaches copy just like we did was Jim. So it really, really top football guy Rick
Nestor Aparicio 08:18
Victoria is here talking about the life and times of Jim Irsay, you mentioned the iconoclastic part of it. And obviously I mean Earth Day was a four letter word in Baltimore for all the things you mentioned in 1984 taking the team, the fact that Bob wanted his son to have the team, the fact that the cook family lost it, the model family here lost the team, the fact that it stayed in the earth, say, control that Jim clearly had the mental health part of this clearly had some bad habits and did some things off the field he shouldn’t have done the way he left the franchise. And the fact that his daughters are now going to have it, the fact that the Earth, say, family stayed in one championships, had Super Bowls that it is. It’s an amazing accomplishment for that kid with that guitar on his back that you met, that he did, hang on to this thing and shine it up at the end of his life.
Rick Venturi 09:16
No, that’s exactly right. Shining it up is really a good term. And I’ve always wondered, you know, and it’s, it’s problematic because it was so animus, so much animus in 1983 it’s hard to walk back. But I’ve often wondered to myself, if the jimmers, say, of 2014 would have been the owner in 1983 things could possibly have been different, because in the end, it’s right in the end when you know when la came a call, and way back when and the Colts of Indianapolis were their prime their prime contender in. Jim ended up keeping the team here. Now they built him a palace, which is Lucas Oil Stadium, which is a palace, but he kept the team here. And you know that that’s kind of a credit to him. That’s why I always wonder, in 83 had he been the, you know, the principal involved. Now, when you look at Jim, the success here now we’re struggling a little bit. Now. We’ve kind of hit a mediocre part of the franchise, but when you look at what he did when he became the owner, and I think the first thing that people forget, and it surprised me at the time, is Jim put aside his ego because he had been the CEO, the acting the day to day General Manager. But when he took over ownership, he put his ego aside and brought in great football people to do the day to day stuff. You know, the and when you look at it. It’s an array of Hall of Famers, from Poland to Dungey to, you know, to Peyton to then Andrew and, you know, the free knees and Edgar and James and Harrison and even guys that will be Hall of Famers. I mean, he surrounded himself with a magnificent task. And actually, if you look at it from I would have to say 99 to 218, I believe. And I know I’m close, if not, they had, they were in a upper 25% winning percentage, you know, 10 division championships. I mean, we got to win a division. We haven’t a division a long time. Division championships back then were given, I mean, it was, it was, it was a baseline. It wasn’t, it wasn’t something he really had to strive for. So, yeah, he really, he had in Peyton Manning really put Indianapolis on the map as a football city. Rick
Nestor Aparicio 11:59
8and Tory is our guest. He is in Indianapolis, Indiana. We’re talking about Jim Irsay and the legacy and how intertwined Baltimore and the Colts and all of that was, I’ll tell you this, he got Peyton Manning there and didn’t screw it up. Eli Manning didn’t want to go to San Diego, right? And John Elway part of the Baltimore story in his youth of what really wrecked the Colts and what could have saved the Colts at that time for Baltimore, the fact that that Peyton went out there and made it work for a long time, and even in the end, the sort of magnanimous fact that he went to Denver and won a championship and did all of that that it um, Jim handled all of that with a lot of class at that particular point, through all of that and winning a championship.
Rick Venturi 12:46
Yeah, there isn’t any doubt about it. The Elway thing, you know, you know, put us back. I mean, I was there through that draft and that 83 draft and that, you know, who’s to know, what would have happened, you know, if Elway comes on board. But the Manning thing, you know, it wasn’t probably as easy a decision it is, in retrospect, but at the time there were, there was a lot of people that really liked Ryan leaf, you know, there really was. But in that sense, I think Jim Mora had a little advantage in that we had watched, you know, we had watched Peyton down in, you know, in New Orleans. We had watched him as a kid, you know. And he, one time, he came out and threw seven on seven for us. And I remember we walked in the locker room. He was a high school senior. We said, that’s the best quarterback on the field, without question. So, you know, once they made that move, obviously, when you draft a Hall of Fame, you know quarterback, one of the greatest of all times you’ve got a chance, but they also surrounded him with the right people. You know, the receivers, the tackles, the running backs, the defensive ends. When they got a lead, Poland had it, who also is in the Hall of Fame, had a really good formula for building around Peyton.
Nestor Aparicio 14:08
Well, Polian Manning, all of that, all is part intertwined with the legacy of Jim Irsay. And last thing for you, Rick, because that guy with the guitar and the sort of iconoclastic, eccentric fellow that Jim Irsay was that collection he had just an amazing thing. I got invited up to New York a couple years ago to see him sing with the band and Mike Mills from REM and most of the John Mellencamp band and Kenny Wayne Shepherd, amongst others, just the mental health part and kicking the stigma and the charity work he did in the $100 bills and, you know, sort of the loud Twitter ownership that he had a decade ago, but his work with charity and his work with that Americana collection he had that’s just incredible. That will continue on, I’m sure. Carly and the daughters will have that out, and that’ll be something that hopefully, at some point people in Baltimore get a chance to reach a touch, all those guitars and all that cool stuff he had,
Rick Venturi 15:10
hopefully, no, that’s a one in a million. You know, I don’t, I don’t know what I’ve heard figures like a billion dollars. I mean, he has things that you just can’t believe, as you’ve seen it, it is absolutely unbelievable. He literally loved playing with that band. I mean, you can just see it. He absolutely loved it. He’s prepared the girls, well, you know, all three girls have had different roles in the organization. Carly has been the football ops, person she’s at, she was at every practice, on the sidelines during training camp, certainly on the sidelines during a game with a headset. So, you know, I think you’re going to see her very visible as the as the football op. And, you know, because Jim hasn’t been really himself. I mean, you know, mentally, he’s been fine, but he was ravaged the last year and a half. Physically, the girls have had to do a lot already, so there’s, there’s a lot of preparation. But Jim is revered here. I mean, he is revered moment of silence at the Pacer game his you know, his daughter waved the flag for the 500 moments of silence. And he’s revered here. You know, his philanthropy, as you said, is well known. It’s it’s very well known. You know, his giving is well known. What isn’t well known is how much he’s done for people, individually, for groups in this city, just giving of money and time for these people. He’s, he’s, he’s done so much. And you know, in that respect, he’s revered. He’s also revered by ex players. I mean, when they, when they talk about him, and they and they talk about him, it is absolutely touching. It is really amazing. So, you know, it’s like I said, for me, it’s very difficult, because I just, I just lost a hell of a friend that I grew up with in pro football, and it’s just, it’s just very difficult. Ironically, will be there in August for that first preseason game. We’ll be in Baltimore, so
8Nestor Aparicio 17:28
Well, maybe I’ll bring you back on and we’ll, we’ll fight with our computers again, and I’ll have you tell me some Mayflower moving van stories, because I know you have managed to make some of those stories rather humorous 40 years later, right? Oh,
Rick Venturi 17:43
yeah. Oh, absolutely we could now. We could talk all afternoon on the move itself and and some experiences that I had, not so much with Jim, but with his dad. I mean, I when I was the head coach, we won’t get into them now, because I could go on. Well,
Nestor Aparicio 18:00
he fired everybody in the morning, and I hired him back at lunchtime, right? I mean, that that was part of part of the war, right?
Rick Venturi 18:06
8Oh yeah, yeah, he was waiting for me one time at the half just ready to blister me. I mean, really. And Jim had always told me, whenever my dad gets in your face, the one thing you can’t do, you can’t back down, because if he thinks you’re back down. He’s got you and so I stood up. It was uncharacteristic, but I stood up that day and we walked out of there together. Yeah, it’s really been interesting. And to have been there in the early days and then to come back, you know, like I say, in the twilight now, I missed a lot of the good times in there. But it’s been fun.
Nestor Aparicio 18:43
Rick venturi is here. It’s always fun chatting with Rick venturi, longtime NFL Coach in New Orleans, Indianapolis, a bunch of places. But most importantly, he was with the May flowers on March 28 1984 when the Baltimore Colts became the Indianapolis Colt you know that’s all good. We got two championships here. Look at you holding your stickers up. You’re having a good time. A good time when you’re Baltimore sticker. All right, listen next, next time we get together, we’ll talk about bad preseason football. We’ll tell some frank cush stories. We’ll talk more about Jim we’ll talk some Bob Earth. Say my thanks to Rick ventori for joining us out in Indianapolis, where he remains the radio voice of the Indianapolis Colts. I’m Nestor. We are W, N, S T am 1570 Towson, Baltimore, and we never stop talking Baltimore positive. I.
