Carolina Panthers founder and owner who sold team after scandal
CHARLOTTE, N. C — Jerry Richardson, the Carolina Panthers founder and for years one of the NFL’s most influential owners until a scandal forced him to sell the team, died Wednesday. He was 86.
Mr. Richardson died peacefully Wednesday night at his Charlotte home, the team said in a statement.
Mr. Richardson became the first former NFL player to own a team since Chicago’s George Halas when he landed the expansion Panthers in 1993.
A former teammate of Pittsburgh native Johnny Unitas who caught a touchdown pass in the Baltimore Colts’ victory over the New York Giants in the 1959 NFL championship game, Mr. Richardson only spent two years in the NFL before venturing into the restaurant business. He used his championship bonus money to open the first Hardee’s in Spartanburg, S.C. — 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, N.C., 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,” Pittsburgh native and 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.”
Carolina began play in 1995 and Mr. Richardson quickly built the Panthers into one of the league’s model franchises, while becoming a powerful figure in the NFL. Mr. Richardson served on several high-level owners committees, playing a key role in labor negotiations with the players’ union.
But Mr. Richardson’s reputation took a tremendous hit when he announced he was selling the Panthers on Dec. 17, 2017 — the same day Sports Illustrated reported that four former Panthers employees received significant monetary settlements due to inappropriate sexually suggestive language and actions by Mr. Richardson. It was also reported he used a racial slur directed toward a team scout.
He sold the team to Mr. Tepper, a hedge fund owner, in May 2018 for a then-NFL record $2.27 billion. The following month the NFL fined Mr. Richardson $2.75 million for alleged workplace misconduct.
Although Mr. Richardson once promised the Panthers would win a Super Bowl “within 10 years” of beginning play in 1995, they never did. The team reached the Super Bowl in the 2003 and 2015 seasons, but lost both times.