October 26, 1993. Jerry Richardson, the ex-football player, the billionaire, stares into a bay of cameras in a packed meeting room at the Hyatt O’Hare in Chicago and sets in motion the 29th NFL franchise with six words: “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
It’s on. Jacksonville and Charlotte will have NFL football in 1995, and somehow, improbably, Charlotte will have damn good football that season. Subsequent Carolina teams will go 1-15, and 15-1. The Panthers will go to a Super Bowl and lose. And they will go to another Super Bowl in 2016, this time as favorites.