BREAKING: Jerry Richardson dead at age 86
Founding owner of the Carolina Panthers died Wednesday night; he owned the team for 22 years
Good afternoon. Today is Thursday, March 2, 2023, and we’re coming to you with breaking news.
Former Panthers owner, 86, helped turn Charlotte into a big-league city
by Tony Mecia
Jerry Richardson, the former Carolina Panthers owner who brought professional football to the Carolinas, has died. He was 86.
Tributes started pouring in Thursday afternoon, after the team and new owner David Tepper shared the news on social media.
It’s hard to overstate the effect that Richardson’s vision for a pro football team in Charlotte had on our region. For years before he landed the expansion franchise in 1993, city leaders had sought establish Charlotte as a city on the move, on par with some of the country’s biggest cities.
Landing an NFL franchise helped solidify that status, along with the Charlotte Hornets, who started playing in 1988. City leaders believed that the exposure that pro sports teams gave to Charlotte aided its growth — as well as improved the region’s quality of life by giving residents a team of their own to pull for on Sunday afternoons in the fall.
In a statement on social media, the Panthers said: “We are saddened to hear about the passing of former owner Jerry Richardson.”
David Tepper wrote:
Jerry Richardson’s contributions to professional football in the Carolinas are historic. With the arrival of the Panthers in 1995, he changed the landscape of sports in the region and gave the NFL fans here a team to call their own. He was incredibly gracious to me when I purchased the team, and for that I am thankful. Nicole and I extend our deepest condolences to Rosalind, the entire Richardson family and their loved ones. We wish them much peace and comfort.
Richardson attended Wofford College in South Carolina, and then played pro football for two years with the Baltimore Colts. After his playing days, he and a partner opened the first Hardee’s in Spartanburg, S.C., and built it into a restaurant empire.
He acquired the rights to the expansion NFL franchise in 1993. The team started play in 1995 at Clemson University, as a pro football stadium in Charlotte was under construction. It opened as Ericsson Stadium in 1996.
Richardson was a fixture at games, and would be seen on TV watching stoically while wearing a tie. Under his leadership, the Panthers went to two Super Bowls, in the 2003 and 2015 seasons, losing them both.
He sold the team in 2018 to Tepper, following allegations of workplace harassment. A 13-foot statue outside the stadium that depicted him holding a football was removed in 2020.
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Executive editor: Tony Mecia; Managing editor: Cristina Bolling; Staff writer: Lindsey Banks; Contributing editor: Tim Whitmire, CXN Advisory; Contributing photographer/videographer: Kevin Young, The 5 and 2 Project