Jerry Richardson, the original owner of the Carolina Panthers and for years one of the NFL’s most influential team owners, has died. He was 86.
Richardson died peacefully Wednesday night at his Charlotte home, the team said in a statement released Thursday.
Richardson became the first former NFL player to own a team since Chicago’s George Halas when he landed the expansion Panthers in 1993.
Richardson played with the Baltimore Colts, and was a former teammate of Hall of Fame quarterback Johnny Unitas. Richardson caught caught a touchdown pass from Unitas in the Baltimore Colts’ victory over the New York Giants in the 1959 NFL championship game.
Richardson only spent two years in the NFL. He famously used his championship bonus money to open the first Hardee’s restaurant in Spartanburg, South Carolina — close to where he had attended Wofford College.
He went on to make his fortune in the restaurant business, becoming chief executive officer of Flagstar, the sixth-largest food service company in the country at the time.
The Spring Hope, North Carolina, native spent years trying to persuade the NFL to put a team in the Carolinas, ultimately succeeding through a relatively original concept of funding a new stadium through the sales of permanent seat licenses.
“Jerry Richardson’s contributions to professional football in the Carolinas are historic,” current Panthers owner David Tepper and his wife Nicole said in a statement. “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 spent 23 years as the team owner. The Panthers were 183-184-1 in the regular season and 9-8 in the postseason with two Super Bowl losses while he owned the team.
Richardson gave up control of the team in December 2017 when he was accused of workplace misconduct. The NFL fined him $2.75 million following an investigation that concluded the former owner had engaged in inappropriate behavior.
In July 2019, Richardson sold the team to Tepper for $2.2 billion.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.