By Jenna Jay
Monday was a somber day in Indianapolis as television sets across the state showed a tearful Tony Dungy gracefully stepping down from his position as the Indianapolis Colts' head coach. Dungy's retirement was no surprise to Colts fans, who heard rumors of the coach's retirement last year after the Colts were knocked out of the playoffs in the divisional round, but the news was still emotional for all those who have watched the Colts improve over the last seven seasons.
Dungy, the winningest coach in Colts history and one of the most respected figures in the entire NFL, started to tear up as soon as he took to the podium at the Indiana Farm Bureau Football Center press conference Monday night, beginning his choked-up farewell speech saying, "My wife, Lauren, she told me to bring some Kleenex. I thought I would make it a little farther than the first sentence." In his last press conference with the Indianapolis Colts, Dungy thanked all Colts fans, owner Jim Irsay and president Bill Polian, saying he would like to be remembered for winning games the ‘right' way – with dignity and class. The former Indianapolis head coach spoke of bringing Colts pride to Indianapolis, and he is surely part of the reason thousands of die-hard Colts fans with Indianapolis Colts tickets packed the house at the RCA Dome for so many years, and now do the same at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Dungy's seven-year tenure with the Colts has resulted in a 92-33 overall record, leading the team to seven playoffs, five division titles and two AFC titles while also becoming the first African-American coach to win a Super Bowl, which occurred in 2007 after the Colts defeated Lovie Smith and the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI. Known as a faith-inspired family man and a calming force in the NFL world, Tony Dungy's legacy in Indianapolis is one that is not soon to be forgotten.
Dungy grew up in Jackson, Michigan, a standout athlete in his hometown recruited by University of Minnesota's football team, where he played four years of college ball for the Golden Golphers. Dungy entered the NFL as a free agent with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1977, playing as a reserve-special teams player in 1977 and the Super Bowl championship 1978 seasons before joining the San Francisco 49ers in 1979 and ending his tenure as an NFL player at training camp with the New York Giants in 1980. After ending his playing career, the talented athlete returned to University of Minnesota to coach for one year before once again joining the Steelers, this time in 1981 as an assistant coach under his former coach Chuck Noll. Dungy was named defensive coordinator in 1984 and left the Steelers in 1989 for the Kansas City Chiefs, eventually becoming a head coach in 1996 for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a team which Dungy completely reformed in his six seasons at Tampa.
Tony Dungy replaced Jim Mora as head coach of the Indianapolis Colts in 2002, helping to fix the team's less-than stellar defense while slowly building the team that would defeat the Chicago Bears to win the 2007 Super Bowl and become one of the top teams contending for the championship title every year. Dungy, who is also known for his outstanding community involvement and social activism and was appointed by President Bush to the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation in 2007, will be replaced as head coach of the Indianapolis team by former Colts assistant head coach Jim Caldwell, who has been with the Indianapolis team for the past six seasons, starting as quarterbacks coach in 2002. To pay tribute to the incredible Tony Dungy and support the upcoming Colts under Caldwell, get tickets to a game at Lucas Oil Stadium from http://www.stubhub.com/indianapolis-colts-tickets.
This article is sponsored by StubHub.com and was written by Jenna Jay. StubHub is a leader in the business of selling Indianapolis Colts tickets, sports tickets, concert tickets, theater tickets and special events tickets.
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