section_path: Early life and education
section_name: Early life and education
paragraph_text: Early life and education
  
  Irsay was born on June 13, 1959, in Lincolnwood, Illinois, the son of Harriet (née Pogorzelski) and Chicago businessman Robert Irsay. His father was from a Hungarian Jewish family, and his mother was the daughter of Polish Catholic immigrants. Irsay was raised Catholic and did not know about his father's Jewish heritage until he was fourteen. Jim's brother, Thomas Irsay, was born with a mental disability and died in 1999, and his sister, Roberta, died in a car accident in 1971.
  
  Irsay's father, Robert Irsay, built a fortune estimated to be over $150 million as a successful heating and air-conditioning contractor.
  
  Irsay attended high school at Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Illinois, a suburb just north of Chicago; and at Mercersburg Academy, Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, graduating in 1978. After high school, he attended, and graduated from, Southern Methodist University in 1982 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in broadcast journalism. Irsay played linebacker for the SMU Mustangs football team as a walk-on, but an ankle injury ended his playing career.
  
  Irsay boxed, played golf, and lifted weights in his younger years.
  
  Irsay was born on June 13, 1959, in Lincolnwood, Illinois, the son of Harriet (née Pogorzelski) and Chicago businessman Robert Irsay. His father was from a Hungarian Jewish family, and his mother was the daughter of Polish Catholic immigrants. Irsay was raised Catholic and did not know about his father's Jewish heritage until he was fourteen. Jim's brother, Thomas Irsay, was born with a mental disability and died in 1999, and his sister, Roberta, died in a car accident in 1971.
  
  Irsay's father, Robert Irsay, built a fortune estimated to be over $150 million as a successful heating and air-conditioning contractor.
  
  Irsay attended high school at Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Illinois, a suburb just north of Chicago; and at Mercersburg Academy, Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, graduating in 1978. After high school, he attended, and graduated from, Southern Methodist University in 1982 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in broadcast journalism. Irsay played linebacker for the SMU Mustangs football team as a walk-on, but an ankle injury ended his playing career.
  
  Irsay boxed, played golf, and lifted weights in his younger years.