Jerry Richardson, the self-made millionaire who brought the NFL to Charlotte and founded the Carolina Panthers, died Wednesday. He was 86.
Deeply rooted in both Carolinas and once a wide receiver for the Baltimore Colts, Richardson persuaded the NFL to put an expansion team in Charlotte in 1993. The Panthers began playing in 1995 and Richardson owned them until 2018, when he sold the team under pressure to current owner David Tepper.
The family did not list a cause of death. A family spokesman said Thursday that Richardson “died peacefully last night at his Charlotte home.”
