As the Irsay family first began making plans to launch their Kicking the Stigma initiative, Kalen Jackson -- the late Jim Irsay's youngest daughter -- looked up data on mental health services and the number of people diagnosed with a mental health disorder in Indiana. Only then did she realize how desperate the need was -- for more help for those suffering, and for less shame attached to mental illness. The mission was deeply personal for the Irsays. Jim, who died in May at age 65, was open about his own protracted struggle with substance use. Jackson has talked about her own anxiety.
Five years since Kicking the Stigma began, the Indianapolis Colts have committed more than $31 million and awarded more than $6.4 million in grants to groups that raise awareness of mental health and expand access to care, in Indiana and beyond. This week, the Colts were recognized as the 2025 Sports Humanitarian Team of the Year at the ESPY Awards, becoming just the third NFL team to earn the honor and the first professional sports team to win it for a mental health initiative.
When she accepted the award, Jackson quoted a favorite line of her father's: Don't you dare give up five seconds before the miracle.
"That speaks to the idea that you grasp for any little bit of positivity when you are so low," Jackson said. "It could be tomorrow when you find the right resource or find the right medication. I like to think we're a catalyst for people to be OK with whatever they are going through. In the end, that makes our culture and society that much better and more empathetic. A lot of the judgment comes from fear and not understanding. We're making sure people aren't scared to ask questions."
Winning the award was bittersweet, as are so many things right now for Kalen and her older sisters, Carlie Irsay-Gordon and Casey Foyt. Jackson remembered how proud her dad was when the team was first nominated for the award a few years ago, and when they found out they won, Jackson's first instinct was to call her dad, because he had been so passionate about helping others in mental health. Kicking the Stigma will continue, though. Another batch of grants is about to be awarded.
And, with the opening of training camp next week, the sisters will embark on their first season of owning the Colts without their father. Jim Irsay had been particularly thrilled that his daughters wanted to be a part of the team to keep the franchise in the family -- he preferred the word "steward" to "owner" -- because, aside from his family, he loved football and the Colts more than anything. He prepared his daughters for the job largely the way he had been prepared to take over from his father, Robert Irsay. They all had roles around the team and he gave them access to all the information they would need, about football and the business of the game. Irsay-Gordon, who began working for the team in high school as an intern in sales and marketing, represented the team at NFL meetings as her father's health failed. She will be the chief executive and she has been on the sideline, wearing a headset, in recent seasons, a practice she said was important to help her understand what a complex organization a football team and a game day is, and to give her better insight into what changes need to be made.
"Having the NFL run your life since you were born, it's a weird feeling to not have him there, not to see him pulling up in his golf cart at training camp," Jackson said. "The hardest was realizing his biggest dream of having his daughters take over was a dream he would never see. It will feel bittersweet with every first. Those will feel extremely different this season, but I have this joy in my heart because I know how much he loved this."
Jackson also acknowledged that the Colts' results have not been good enough, and that there might be a little added pressure to get back on top to honor her dad. During a June press conference, Irsay-Gordon said she and her sisters were very confident in the direction of the team under general manager Chris Ballard and head coach Shane Steichen. But she said, as her dad had said before he died, Ballard and Steichen also know there are things that need to be fixed. That effort will include a quarterback competition between Anthony Richardson and Daniel Jones.
When the Colts won the Super Bowl to finish the 2006 season in the pouring rain in Miami, Irsay, soaked and with tears in his eyes, told his daughters he wanted to talk to them. He told them he wanted them to remember what they were feeling at that moment, because it was one of the hardest things to do and they might never experience it again. The goal now is to get that feeling back.
Irsay died on May 21, a week after the NFL's 2025 schedule was released. Jackson's last voicemail from her dad was a response to her asking what he thought of the schedule.
"Ah, the schedule is what it is," Irsay replied. "You gotta f------ win."
