Colts’ Jim Irsay shows off incredible collection to Edgerrin James, Roger Goodell

On Thursday night in Manhattan, Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay transformed a concert venue into a history-flecked shrine to trailblazing, innovation and the American ideal.

The night before the public unveiling of the Jim Irsay Collection at the Hammerstein Ballroom at Manhattan Center, a spectacular museum-quality (if the museum is great) collection of memorabilia, the Colts’ owner hosted a gala and concert intended to introduce his private stash to the waiting masses.

Attendees were greeted by smiling cheerleaders and Hunter S. Thompson’s car. Irsay’s presentation was pure opulence with a heart of gold. Every item clearly held special significance to the owner, but also served as a key in the ignition to the start of the American tale.

While moving toward the stage, one might stumble upon Muhammad Ali’s robe from the very first fight he undertook after shedding the name Cassius Clay, positioned alongside Jackie Robinson’s game-used bat and a Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed baseball. In the entryway, Harry Truman’s inaugural top hat rotated near George Washington and Thomas Jefferson signatures, while John F. Kennedy’s rocking chair sat still, tilted and eerily empty. The room’s side wall was dedicated to Jack Kerouac, a personal hero of Irsay’s and someone for whom he threw a gala in March celebrating what would’ve been the author’s 100th birthday. Singer Natalie Merchant, a special guest, sang 10,000 Maniacs’ “Hey Jack Kerouac” at Irsay’s request, too.

Front and center, though, was Irsay’s wall of historic guitars, from Jerry Garcia’s axe to Prince’s yellow art piece (no, not the one from the 2006 Colts Super Bowl win, we were quick to be told). By the middle of the evening, the focus shifted back to Irsay’s other passion: music, a presentation he undertook with Commissioner Roger Goodell and Colts legend Edgerrin James by his side in support.

Colts owner Jim Irsay showed off his spectacular collection to Roger Goodell, Edgerrin James

In a roomful of guests trying to crane their heads to smirk at the Commissioner or recognize a plainclothes James (this wasn’t an overwhelmingly Indy-centric audience), Irsay was impossible to miss, even to the uninformed. Knowing only that one man was behind this eccentric collection, it became immediately clear that the sunglassed lothario in the stetson was, in fact, the dreamer who hit the road and followed Kerouac to Thursday’s stage.

Irsay thanked those in attendance and answered questions before launching into an impassioned cover of The Band’s “The Weight,” flanked by experienced musicians like Kenny Wayne Shepherd and REM’s Mike Mills. Before starting the performance, the Colts’ owner admitted the song stirred something within him, and that “something” escaped his lips whenever the pre-chorus rolled back around.

Eventually ceding the stage to Merchant, Irsay made a proud impact during his brief time holding court — though, again, he never managed to get lost in any sort of crowd.

The gravelly-voiced Colts patriarch has assembled something truly incredible, and even though the exhibition will be open to the public on Friday, the careful touch and historic resonance makes any viewing still feel intrusive, as if you’ve stumbled into a 62-year-old’s Americana-tinged brain.

Irsay’s deep, abiding love for the material — spoken or encased — was plainly obvious on Thursday evening, and anyone who has the chance should take an elongated peak.

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