Former NFL player Matt Ulrich, who won the Super Bowl with the Indianapolis Colts, has died aged 41, the team's owner Jim Irsay has announced.
The offensive lineman played guard for the Colts team that won the Super Bowl 29-17 against the Chicago Bears in 2007. The Illinois native played college football for Northwestern University.
"I am heartbroken to hear of the passing of Matt Ulrich," Irsay said on X. "Matt was with us only two seasons, but left his mark on many. Great guy, I hear he was a great dad, and he was a Super Bowl champ. My prayers to his family."
Details around Ulrich's death are yet to be confirmed, but tributes have poured in from Colts and Northwestern fans to the father of four.
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Ulrich attended Streamwood High School in Illinois and was a star athlete in both football and shot putt. He stayed in-state and represented the Wildcats in the NCAA.
After going undrafted in 2005, he signed a rookie free-agent deal with the Colts and earned a place on the roster. He went on to play 10 games across two seasons before being released.
After retiring from the NFL, Ulrich was a founding member of DexaFit, which has medical testing centers for athletes across America. He was also the head coach of Mountain Edge Athletics.
Matt Ulrich (left) won the Super Bowl with the Indianapolis Colts against the Chicago Bears in Miami in 2006. (Gary W. Green/MCT/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)Ulrich recalled the joy of winning the Super Bowl as well as beating the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship game in an interview with Montana Sports in 2019. He said: "It’s an incredible feeling. You see the confetti drop from the ceiling and I still think I have a handful of that left from back in 2007.
"Definitely one of the best memories, just being on the field with your teammates, especially that game. I think we were down 20 points at one point. We were down at least three scores in the game. And I remember in the back of your head you just started thinking, ‘Looks like I’m packing it back up,’ and after the season you go home and there was just no quit in that team.
"In fact, I remember (head coach Tony) Dungy saying we are going to come out and we are going to get one score. And football, like life, is a game of momentum. And once you get that momentum back you can just chip away at it.
"That year, in particular, the Patriots were a little bit back on their heels. I think already in their mind they had thought they had punched their ticket to the Super Bowl and, of course, the game went our way. And it gave me the opportunity to go to Miami and face my hometown Bears.”
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