JEWISH ROOTS OF INDY COLTS' OWNER

The Colts' Jewish roots (YNet)
Jim Irsay, owner of the Indianapolis Colts, one of the most successful teams in the NFL, only discovered his father was Jewish when he was 14. In a special interview with Ynet, he talks about football and his family history

“I found out about my Jewish roots only when I was 14. I never met my grandparents and my dad never talked about them. There was fallout in their relationship and it was cut off when my dad was 30....

“My mom was Catholic from Polish origin and I was raised as a Catholic. The first time I discovered my Jewish connection was in high school, when somebody told me that he knows some family relatives who live in Skokie, a place with a big Jewish community. I asked my mom and she told me this information is true.

“Since then, I discovered a lot about my heritage and learned about it. Unfortunately I didn’t have a chance to meet my grandfather and grandmother who passed away. But after I became older I managed to make up for the fracturing with the help of my aunt and my father’s brother who is still alive....

During his investigation, Irsay encountered a surprising detail about his family name. Several years after his father’s parents arrived at Ellis Island, they changed their last name to Irsay in an attempt to adapt to their new surroundings....

[A Sports Illustrated] story pointed out that Bob Irsay had disowned his parents and their Jewish heritage, and even used an anti-Semitic slur on occasion.

“The article published in Sports Illustrated was very hard for him,” Irsay recalls. “He was fighting his demons. He also had a tough time dealing with the media and he didn’t know what it was like to be in the public eye.

“Yeah, you can cheat, but then somebody will check it and will find it is wrong,” Irsay said. One of the facts exposed in the article was Irsay’s Jewish origin, which he denied publicly.

“My father had troubles with his father and he wanted to stay away from all that he represented, including Judaism.

“The fracture was so deep that I think if my grandfather had been Catholic my father would probably have converted to Judaism.”