The Sports Xchange

The Indianapolis Colts will honor longtime center Jeff Saturday with a place in the franchise’s Ring of Honor during a halftime ceremony at a Monday night game against the New York Jets on Sept. 21 in Lucas Oil Stadium.

Saturday will become the 12th member in the team’s Ring of Honor.

Saturday and former Colts quarterback Peyton Manning set an NFL record by playing in 170 games together and he was part of 132 wins, the third most in franchise history behind wide receiver Reggie Wayne (143) and Manning (141).

In 13 seasons with the Colts after joining the team as an undrafted free agent in 1999, Saturday was selected to six Pro Bowls and two All-Pro teams. He finished his career in Green Bay, playing one season for the Packers before retiring.

“Jeff represented both the organization and the City of Indianapolis with a tremendous amount of class for 13 seasons,” Colts owner and CEO Jim Irsay said. “The passion for which he played the game was infectious and he quickly developed into one of this game’s great leaders. His performance on the field matched his dedication and service to the community.

“Jeff is extremely deserving of this honor and I’m thrilled to add his name with the others who have represented the Horseshoe in extraordinary fashion.”

The Colts experienced unprecedented success from 2000 to 2009 while Saturday was at center with 115 regular-season wins, the most by any team in NFL history in one decade. During Saturday’s run with the team, the Colts reached the playoffs 11 times, went to the Super Bowl twice and won it once.

Saturday also was involved in helping bring an end to the NFL lockout in 2011 as a member of the players’ executive committee.

“I am very honored and excited,” said Saturday, who works for ESPN as an analyst. “When you start playing this game, you never really envision this occurring in your career. I tell people all the time that my career was much better than I deserved. That’s really the way I feel about it. This is just another thing to add to it.

I’ve been so blessed to be an Indianapolis Colt. To be there as long as I was and for as successful as it was, not only personally, but for the teams that I had the chance to play for, all the men that I got to suit up beside and run out on the field with, I can’t say enough good things. I’m just humbled by it and really excited about it.”

Others in the team’s Ring of Honor are Robert Irsay, Bill Brooks, Ted Marchibroda, Chris Hinton, Jim Harbaugh, 12th Man, Tony Dungy, Marvin Harrison, Edgerrin James, Eric Dickerson and Marshall Faulk.