(Photo: Robert Scheer / The Star)
On March 17th, 2014, Indianapolis Colts’ owner, Jim Irsay, was arrested for a DUI and four felony counts of “possession of a controlled substance”, according to CBS Sports.
Since then, Irsay has been publicly criticized, and on September 2nd, he was suspended for the first 6 games of the 2014 NFL season.
Even without all the facts, many sports writers and analysts bashed Irsay and called for bigger punishments. Jeffri Chadiha of ESPN.com, argued that the NFL should even take away draft picks from the Colts.
On October 15th, Shaun Assael of ESPN the Magazine wrote an article “The Shadow Life of Jim Irsay.” This was the first time any news outlet tried to get the full story of Irsay’s history with drug use.
According to this article, Irsay’s problems may have began in 1997, when his father (then owner of the Colts) passed away due to heart failure. His father’s death forced Irsay to take over the team as the youngest owner in NFL history at only 37 years old.
For the next decade, Irsay’s life only got messier. He battled with drug addiction which led to several brushes with the law and in 2002 his wife Meg filed for a legal separation.
After years of rehab meetings, Irsay was finally able to stay clean for an extended period of time. “I’d say 90 percent of the people [in this city] who’ve been to programs have been in meetings with Jim,” said Irsay’s ex-doctor, Thomas Hoshour.
Just as Irsay’s life started to regain focus, it took another confusing turn. In 2005, Irsay hired a woman named Kim Wundrum as a babysitter for friends who were staying at his lake house. It turned out that Wundrum was also a recovering drug addict.
Irsay and Wundrum bonded over their similar problems and eventually became lovers. He even bought her a ring that Wundrum secretly referred to as an engagement ring.
Kim Wundrum attending to her garden. (Facebook)
Most likely because of her past issues with the law, Irsay refused to bring his relationship with Wundrum to the public’s attention. He bought her a condo nearby, and he bought her tickets and a limo service to every Colts’ home game.
Irsay even took care of Wundrum’s family. “If it wasn’t for Jim, I’d be dead,” said Matt Boda (one of Wundrum’s four step children). Irsay gave them money and a place to live after the death of their birth father.
Unfortunately, as time went on, the relationship that once helped him stay sober was now helping him relapse. A mutual friend described going to their house and finding both Irsay and Wundrum “passed out in their clothes.”
In 2013, while Wundrum was away at a rehab facility in Utah, Irsay had her possessions moved out of their home. He put her stuff in a townhouse, which he bought her and allowed her to live in rent free. Even after their split, Irsay gave her a $6,000-a-month allowance.
A few months later, a friend found Wundrum in her townhouse, dead. Her death was due to a polysubstance overdose.
Two weeks later, Irsay was pulled over and arrested for possession of a controlled substance.
The article written by Assael actually depicted Irsay as a generous and loving man.
The media did not write about Irsay’s dark history because it makes him a sympathetic figure. They instead framed him as the typical rich celebrity with a drug issue.
Some news coverages used the the Irsay arrest as a way to attack Roger Goodell:
Too many times in the news, they report the who, what, when, but not the why. The media’s inability to delve into the “why” forces the reader to judge the celebrity only by their crime.
On October 10th, Irsay’s six-game suspension was officially lifted.
All facts of Jim Irsay’s story are courtesy of Shuan Assael’s article on ESPN, unless otherwise noted.
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