Late Colts owner Jim Irsay privately grappled with a relapse that he and team execs shielded from the public ahead of his death in May at the age of 65, according to a bombshell report.
Irsay, who had long been candid about his battle with substance abuse, “spent the last two years of his life in the throes of a relapse,” The Washington Post reported Thursday, with the report also alleging the NFL exec was prescribed ketamine from a private doctor.
That doctor “signed Irsay’s death certificate, stating the cause was cardiac arrest,” per the report.
Those close to Irsay had relayed concerns over the treatment Irsay was receiving from California-based addiction specialist Harry Haroutunian, who was with Irsay at the time of his death.
The report states that Haroutunian prescribed over 200 hundred opioid pills before Irsay overdosed on two separate occasions in December 2023 — once at his Indianapolis home and another at a rental home in Miami.
People with knowledge of Irsay’s relapses said the treatment eventually escalated to ketamine injections in the months prior to his death.
“I dedicated 18 months of my life to try to care for him … as a brother,” Haroutunian told the Washington Post in a phone interview — but later did not respond to emails that detailed the paper’s reporting.
“We did everything we could to make him as comfortable as possible.”
Irsay’s three daughters — Carlie Irsay-Gordon, Casey Foyt and Kalen Jackson — have since taken over the Colts in the wake of his death.
“Our Dad was open about his battles with addiction and mental health. He never claimed to be perfect,” the Colts co-owners wrote. “The media is not the place to address inquiries about information which is disputed, lacks essential context, or involves private medical matters.”
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