Jerry Richardson, the founder and original owner of the Carolina Panthers, died Wednesday night at age 86.
The team announced Richardson’s death Thursday.
“Jerry Richardson’s contributions to professional football in the Carolinas are historic,” Panthers owners David and Nicole 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.”
Richardson sold the Panthers to the Teppers for a then-record $2.275 billion in 2018.
The ownership change came in the aftermath of an NFL investigation that found multiple instances of sexual harassment and racial misconduct by Richardson, who was fined $2.75 million by the league. Tepper subsequently had the statue of Richardson removed from outside of the Panthers’ stadium in June 2020.
Richardson, who began the Hardee’s fast-food hamburger chain in Spartanburg, S.C., in 1961, was awarded the NFL’s then-29th franchise on Oct. 26, 1993.
The Panthers played their first NFL game on July 29, 1995, against fellow expansion team Jacksonville, in a preseason game.
Frank Reich, the newly named head coach of the Panthers, threw the franchise’s first touchdown pass in a regular-season game under head coach Dom Capers, now an assistant coach under Reich.
Richardson played in 22 NFL games for the Baltimore Colts in 1959-60. He was part of the Johnny Unitas-led team that won the 1959 NFL championship.