This was a column I knew I’d have to write someday. I anticipated it would be difficult to find the right tone.
Because for all of Panthers founder Jerry Richardson’s business accomplishments and philanthropic efforts — his towering stature in Charlotte — his legacy also includes the troubling workplace misconduct allegations that cost him the team he loved and forever altered his perception in the city and around the NFL.
Advertisement
Richardson died Wednesday night at his Charlotte home, 28 years after bringing the NFL to the Carolinas and five years after selling the team after a Sports Illustrated report detailed accusations that Richardson sexually harassed several women and directed a racial slur toward a team employee.
He was 86.
Richardson’s family will hold a private funeral, with a public celebration of his life to be held at a later date. He is survived by his wife, Rosalind, son Mark, daughter Ashley Allen, nine grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. His son Jon died in 2013 after a lengthy battle with cancer.
“Jerry Richardson’s contributions to professional football in the Carolinas are historic,” Panthers owner David Tepper 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.”
Statement from Roger Goodell on Jerry Richardson: pic.twitter.com/Bo3BiFUEtN
— Joe Person (@josephperson) March 2, 2023
Richardson joined George Halas as the only NFL owners to have played in the league when he launched the Panthers in 1993, a move that helped transform Charlotte into a growing, thriving Southern city.
“I owe the world to him. He gave me my first opportunity,” said John Fox, the Panthers’ coach from 2002 to 2010. “It wouldn’t have happened without Jerry Richardson.”
Richardson famously said the Panthers would win a Super Bowl within the first 10 years of existence. That didn’t happen, although Carolina advanced to the NFC Championship Game in just its second season and twice made it to the Super Bowl, losing to New England after the 2003 season and to Denver 12 years later.
Advertisement
Richardson addressed the team at its Houston hotel the night before the first Super Bowl appearance but was more introspective before Super Bowl 50 in Santa Clara, Calif., according to former Panthers scout and assistant general manager Brandon Beane.
“By that time, he had realized how hard it is to get there, and I think he was just nervous about not winning,” Beane, now the Bills’ GM, said. “I think that one was a different feeling, especially at the point of life of where he was.
“When we lost that game, that’s one of the first persons I thought about — that you never know, was that his last chance? And it ultimately was. I know it really weighed on him that offseason that that might’ve been his last chance.”
Richardson was born in Hope Springs, N.C. His family lived in a country home without indoor plumbing. A 6-foot-3, 150-pound receiver known as “Stick” in high school, Richardson became an AP Little All-American in 1957 and ’58 at Wofford, where he still holds the single-game record with 241 receiving yards.
A 13th-round draft pick of the Baltimore Colts, Richardson caught a touchdown pass from Johnny Unitas in the 1959 title game against the New York Giants. He played two seasons before retiring over a contract dispute of $250, an example of his stubbornness on financial matters that he would retain as a powerful, hawkish voice on the NFL’s labor committee.
Richardson used his $4,800 playoff bonus as the seed money to open his first Hardee’s franchise in Spartanburg, S.C., with Charles Bradshaw, his college quarterback. Richardson later was the chief executive officer of Flagstar, one of the largest food service companies in the U.S., with 2,500 restaurants and tens of thousands of employees.
“He’s one of the most successful businesspeople you can be around,” Beane said. “Everything he touched turned to gold.”
Advertisement
Richardson shifted his focus to starting an NFL team in the 1990s, a process that resulted in Carolina and Jacksonville receiving expansion franchises over bids from St. Louis, Memphis and Baltimore.
“How many people told him, ‘No way, no how’ in the Carolinas — they’re not big enough, they don’t have the draw to bring an NFL team?” said Beane, a North Carolina native who was in college at UNC Wilmington when Richardson was awarded the franchise. “And he wanted to prove them wrong.”
Richardson’s sons, Mark and Jon, held high-ranking positions with the Panthers until resigning in 2009 due to differences in how the team should operate. Earlier that year, Richardson had received a heart transplant on Super Bowl Sunday at age 72. Beane recalled doctors saying that if Richardson lived another seven years, it would have been considered a success.
Beane, who started working for the Panthers in 1998, recalled Richardson coming back to Bank of America Stadium one day shocked at how expensive gas had become. At the team’s next all-staff meeting, Richardson instituted a minimum salary for every full-time employee, including those who had been on an hourly wage scale.
“People with that kind of money don’t always think about people who are at the bottom of the food chain,” Beane said. “That struck him, that gas was that expensive. And I just thought, ‘What owners would actually think about something like that?’”
The only person inducted into both the North Carolina and South Carolina business and sports halls of fame, Richardson allowed tight end Greg Olsen to use his private plane when Olsen’s son was born with a congenital heart defect in 2012. Long snapper J.J. Jansen, who has played more games than any player in Panthers history, came to Charlotte as a 23-year-old in 2009 with little familiarity with the franchise. He said Richardson, known as “Mister” or “Big Cat” around the Panthers’ facility, was almost “larger than life.”
“To watch him glow when talking about this team and this city, and what it meant to him to not only have a football team where he grew up but to be able to bring that to this area, was always a very special thing to him,” Jansen said. “And that always meant a lot to me.”
Advertisement
Before the Bills’ preseason game in Charlotte in August, Beane went to visit Richardson at his home. Beane said Richardson’s mind remained sharp, although his speech was faltering. The two talked for about a half-hour about their time together in Charlotte and all of the Carolina connections Beane had developed in Buffalo.
“We had some laughs, and a couple tears,” Beane said. “I gave him a hug. It was a good moment.”
The Jerry Richardson statue is removed from outside Bank of America Stadium in 2020. (Joe Person / The Athletic)In December 2017, Sports Illustrated reported that at least four ex-Panthers employees received “significant” settlements due to inappropriate comments and actions by Richardson, including sexually suggestive language and behavior. Richardson was also accused of directing a racial slur toward a Black scout, which The Athletic confirmed.
The NFL launched an investigation into the claims while Richardson quickly announced he would sell the team. The league found no information to discredit the allegations and fined Richardson $2.75 million in June 2018. Two weeks later, he sold the team to Tepper for a then-record $2.275 billion.
Richardson remained out of public view after the sale. Until his health declined, Richardson would regularly go to his south Charlotte office, which oversaw charitable contributions of more than $500 million.
In 2021, Richardson made a $150 million gift to Wofford, where the basketball arena and athletic facility are named after him. There’s also a bronze statue of Richardson overlooking Wofford’s football stadium. Tepper had a 13-foot statue of Richardson removed from outside Bank of America Stadium in 2020 amid protests against systemic racism.
Will Webb, retired executive director of the Charlotte Sports Foundation, visited Richardson several weeks ago to thank him.
“You look at what he did for Charlotte — the people that come here, the people who see it on TV — it’s so big it’s almost inconceivable,” said Webb, who teamed with Richardson to host an annual college football kickoff game, the ACC championship and a bowl game at Bank of America Stadium.
Advertisement
“It’s hard to think how big that impact was.”
(Top photo: Grant Halverson / Getty Images)
ncG1vNJzZmismJqutbTLnquim16YvK57k2ttcnBpbnxzfJFsZmlrX2WAcLbEq6myZaKesKmt0Z2qqKZdmbamv4ycmKunnJ67onnPmqWtoJWnwHA%3D