Turning Pages of ‘100 Things Colts Fans:’ ‘Reg-gie! Reg-gie! Reg-gie!’

When Reggie Wayne arrived in the NFL as the Indianapolis Colts’ first-round selection in 2001, the city was already chanting his first name, but for an established NBA All-Star.

Reggie Miller retired in 2005, about the same time that Wayne was coming into his own in NFL, no longer just the other wide receiver across the field from All-Pro teammate Marvin Harrison.

Colts fans loved yelling “Reg-gie! Reg-gie! Reg-gie!’”

The 2018 Colts Ring of Honor inductee was highlighted for his playmaking ability and engaging swagger in Chapter 23 of the 2013 book 100 Things Colts Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die (Triumph Books).

Wayne’s return to the team instead of landing elsewhere as a free agent further solidified his popularity, with fans and in the locker room. Peyton Manning departed before 2012, which saw Wayne become a leader for rookie quarterback Andrew Luck and others from day one at training camp.

Who’s going to stay after to catch more footballs from the JUGS machine? Yeah, No. 87. If something needed to be said at halftime, Wayne spoke up. And when Luck really needed to convert a challenging third down, that pass usually went to Wayne.

Still, it almost never was. On the verge of leaving Miami to sign with another team for his 12th year before 2012, Wayne kept his promise to call owner Jim Irsay and head coach Chuck Pagano before committing to anything.

Wayne stayed put. He suggested a minimum of $3 million was left on the table by re-signing with the Colts, but there are more important things than money. That’s one more reason fans and teammates loved the guy.

“It’s an honor for me to throw the ball to him,” Luck said.

Nobody knows Wayne better than his bud from the “U,” running back Edgerrin James, who like Wayne played his college ball at the University of Miami. James became the Colts’ all-time leading rusher and was ecstatic about sharing the same locker room with Wayne from 2001 through 2005.

“Hey, that’s like my brother. He’s family to me,” James said. “As a football player, I watched Reggie from day one, watched his game evolve into being one of the greatest receivers of all-time. And then the way he stuck in there with the Colts, I told him I always hoped he could finish his career with the Colts. The rest of us haven’t been able to accomplish that. Hopefully Reggie will be the one to make that happen and his last game will be in a Colts uniform.”

When James was inducted into the Colts’ Ring of Honor during a halftime ceremony in 2012, Wayne sprinted from the locker room to stand by his guy.

“I was so happy to have Reggie in my life and have Reggie on the team with me,” James said. “To come from the University of Miami to the NFL, that’s very rare that you have someone you were actually close to in college play on the same team with you.”

Wayne’s knack for speaking his mind attracted reporters. When a writer suggested in 2010 that a receiver never complained of catching too many passes, an amused Wayne said, “I don’t even get that in practice, so I damn sure am not going to get that in games.”

He took pride in putting up numbers, not just because it proved his value, but Wayne was convinced he provided his team with the best chance to win.

In 14 seasons, Wayne caught 1,070 passes for 14,345 yards and 82 TDs. In 21 playoff games, he had 93 receptions for 1,254 yards and nine touchdowns. He made the Pro Bowl six times and was a Super Bowl XLI champion in 2007. His 53-yard TD reception in the first quarter of that Super Bowl victory is a memorable moment from that game and season.

His return for 2012 training camp set a tone. Wayne arrived at Anderson University in a convoy of three camouflaged Humvees with seven members of the Indiana National Guard. He climbed out, wearing military fatigues.

“Reggie Wayne, reporting for duty!” he said, then saluted the guardsmen and grabbed his backpack. Yeah, this guy was a trooper and always showed up, especially in the most difficult of times.

Before the Colts ventured to Nashville, Tenn., to face the Titans on Oct. 28, Wayne addressed the team’s need to snap a 10-game road losing streak. A 10-3 halftime deficit meant sending a more intense message.

“I was pissed,” Wayne said in a triumphant locker room after the Colts rallied to accomplish their mission with a 19-13 overtime victory. “There was no false enthusiasm on this one. I was pissed because I knew what we were capable of. We should have had a lead at halftime and we were behind. I felt like we needed a little fire. I had to speak up.”

Wayne reveled in how the Colts surprised their critics – and basically everyone else but themselves – with a turnaround from 2-14 to 11-5 in 2012. Although the ride ended with a 24-9 AFC Divisional playoff loss at Baltimore, the 34-year-old Wayne showed up with nine receptions for 114 yards.

After the game, he criticized Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis for a final-second celebration in which the retiring defender took the field on offense as the deep back in victory formation. As the clock ticked down to the end, Lewis had one more opportunity to do his “Squirrel Dance” in a final home game at Baltimore.

“I saw it as disrespectful,” Wayne said. “They’d already had a tribute every quarter.”

The leader had stood up and spoken for his team once more.

“Reggie Wayne has never been bashful,” said Phil Richards, former longtime beat writer for The Indianapolis Star. “He’s an eager and accomplished trash talker, but he’s not a rah-rah guy. At least he wasn’t one until the young 2012 Colts needed him to be.”

“He’s talked more (in 2012) than he had in all the 11 previous years and it’s helped our team in every way,” said Colts outside linebacker Robert Mathis. “He’s more a show-you guy than a tell-you guy. He’s, ‘Follow me. I’ll show you.’”

Colts radio voice Bob Lamey says there’s nothing like a one-on-one interview with Wayne, just hanging out and shooting the breeze.

“He’s as good as it gets,” Lamey said. “I love the guy. He played in Marvin’s shadow for a long time. He never said anything or griped about it. He just goes out and does his job, and he does it better than 99.9 percent of the players in this game. How many times have we seen him take brutal hits, and he bounces right back up. And he never says anything. He just goes back to the huddle and plays again. He’s made big play after big play.

“Right now, I’ve got Marvin and Reggie as No. 1 and No. 1a in no particular order as the two best receivers I have ever seen. (Baltimore Hall of Famer) Raymond Berry was great, but these two guys could do things Raymond couldn’t do because of speed.”

Wayne finished his career with the Colts, although he departed temporarily in signing with rival New England before 2015. It didn’t fit, and the Patriots granted his request to be released. If fans had hard feelings about that brief stint in New England, they were gone when Wayne returned to help coach Colts wide receivers in recent years. And fans got to scream his name one more time with his 2018 induction into the Colts Ring of Honor.

He still holds the franchise record for regular-season games played (211) and victories (143). In January of this year, Wayne was among 15 modern-era finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It wasn’t his turn. His buddy “Edge” got the call. But expect Wayne to be on the ballot again, and one day he’ll join Manning, James, and Harrison with his bronze bust in Canton, Ohio.

“The Colts’ best move of the 2012 season was taking quarterback Andrew Luck with the first pick in the draft,” Richards said. “Second-best? Re-signing Wayne for a 12th season during which he caught 106 passes for 1,355 yards and five touchdowns and went to his sixth Pro Bowl.

“If anyone should be a forever Colt, it’s ‘Reg-gie, Reg-gie, Reg-gie.’”

(Phillip B. Wilson has covered the Indianapolis Colts for more than two decades and authored the 2013 book 100 Things Colts Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die. He’s on Twitter @pwilson24, on Facebook at @allcoltswithphilb and @100thingscoltsfans, and his email is phillipbwilson24@yahoo.com.)