Chuck Pagano celebrates 14th annual cancer research fundraiser
Apr 17, 2026
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The 14th annual Chuckstrong Tailgate Gala took place at the Colts training complex on Friday night.
This year’s event raised more than $900,000 for cancer research.
Former Colts head coach and cancer survivor Chuck Pagano reflected on how much this event has grow
n through the years.
“It still seems so surreal,” Pagano said. “I think back and I was up at 2:30 this morning and I couldn’t go back to sleep. All the memories of all the events, all the games, that first season. I couldn’t even believe that it morphed into what it morphed into. The very first game I missed, the Chuckstrong tee shirts and that whole movement and just because of the generosity of Jim Irsay and the Irsay family.”
Entering Friday, the event had raised over $16 million dollars for cancer research since 2012. Pagano credits the late Jim Irsay and his family for setting the initiative in motion.
“Without Jim and his family, there is no Chuckstrong,” Pagano said. “Miss Jim obviously, I love Jim. Nobody loved his team and his players, the community, the fans more than him and he loved this event as much as all of that. Grateful for everybody here, grateful for year 14.”
The money raised for cancer research on Friday will go to the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center.
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