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, has died. He was 86.
Richardson died peacefully Wednesday night at his Charlotte home, according to a team release issued Thursday.
When he landed the expansion Panthers in 1993, Richardson became the first former NFL player to own a team since George Halas, who from 1921 to 1983 was owner of the franchise now known as the Chicago Bears.
A former teammate of Johnny Unitas who caught a touchdown pass in the Baltimore Colts’ victory over the New York Giants in the 1959 NFL championship game, Richardson spent two years in the league as a player before venturing into the restaurant business. He used his championship bonus money to open the first Hardee’s 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.