Unlike NFL owners like Jerry Jones or Jimmy Haslam, who were born into privilege and wealth, Shad Khan’s path to owning the Jacksonville Jaguars has been one of grit, struggle, and a relentless drive chasing the American Dream.
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Born in Lahore, Pakistan, in 1950, Khan had a tumultuous childhood. His elder brother, Tariq Rafiq Khan, passed away in his early 20s, which meant that Khan had to now shoulder the responsibilities of his family. So with dreams in his eyes and hunger in his stomach, Shad immigrated to the United States in 1967 as a 16-year-old.
With only $500 in his pocket and no family by his side, he had no idea what awaited him as he started his life in America at a YMCA, paying $2 a night for a bed.
Survival was all that mattered in those days until a bigger opportunity came along. To get by, Khan washed dishes for $1.20 an hour while attending high school.
After finishing school, he enrolled at the University of Illinois to study engineering, which shaped his future, both personally and professionally.
In 1967, Khan met Ann Carlson here, whom he ended up dating for 10 years before marrying her in 1977. The couple later went on to have two kids, Tony Khan [AEW Co-Founder] and Shanna Khan, a philanthropist who is actively involved with the Jaguars Foundation.
Coming back to the professional front, around the late 60s, he also picked up a job at a small auto parts company called Flex-N-Gate. And as it turned out, what began as a student gig would, within a decade, become the foundation of his empire.
In 1980, Khan bought the company and eventually grew it into a global powerhouse, employing more than 27,000 people. The success of Flex-N-Gate became the backbone of his fortune. The 75-year-old is now worth more than $13.7 billion.
But Khan’s ambitions grew beyond the car parts business. He had fallen in love with football soon after arriving in America. That passion eventually turned into a dream of owning an NFL team. This dream nearly became a reality in 2010 when he tried to purchase the St. Louis Rams, only to be outbid by Stan Kroenke at the last minute.
Undeterred, Khan struck the deal of his lifetime in 2011, buying the Jacksonville Jaguars for $770 million and, in the process, making history as the first non-white owner in NFL history. Under Khan’s stewardship, the Jaguars have been repositioned as a global franchise.
They have played more international games than any other NFL team. The Jaguars have become a natural extension of their owner’s broader sports empire, which includes soccer club Fulham FC in the English Premier League and All Elite Wrestling (AEW), the wrestling promotion he co-founded with his son, Tony Khan.
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Khan’s journey, however, has not been without adversity. He has spoken openly about the prejudice and discrimination he faced while chasing his dreams in America.
“Being a Muslim-American made me a frequent target of prejudice, discrimination, and hatred,” Khan once wrote, reflecting on his over five decades of life in the U.S. He admitted that even in recent years, people have used racist language around him, “apparently ignorant of my ethnicity.”
Yet despite the struggles, Khan never lost faith in his adopted homeland or in the opportunities it accorded him.
“I came to the United States from Pakistan in 1967 with $500 in my pocket and faith in the American Dream. Opportunities to learn and succeed were abundant, and more than 50 years later, I am forever grateful and proud to be a citizen of the United States,” Khan wrote.
Today, the Jacksonville Jaguars are valued at over $5.57 billion, a whopping sevenfold growth since Khan’s takeover. It’s success stories like these that reinforce the belief that Khan’s life is the American Dream personified.
It is a testament that, despite being fraught with challenges, the dream is still alive for those willing to embrace the grind. After all, not everyone ends up owning a multibillion-dollar sports empire after washing dishes for $1.20 an hour as a teenager.
