PITTSBURGH -- Dan Rooney was only 5 when he was introduced
to pro football by his father, Art, the Pittsburgh Steelers
founder and patriarchal leader. This day, Art Rooney's fatherly
skills were clearly lacking.
"Players were fooling around with me, and they tried to pick me
up," Dan Rooney said. "Someone picked me up, but they didn't pull
me high enough and -- boom! -- I went right down. Broke my nose. My
mother was really quite mad. My father was not a very good baby
sitter."
Art Rooney Sr., however, was a skillful owner who treated his
players as partners rather than employees, and whose patience after
40 mostly unsuccessful seasons paid off with one of the greatest
teams ever in pro sports.
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Dan helped build and manage one of the premier franchises in sports and he has been a tremendous contributor to the overall success in the league. ” |
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— NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue |
Like father, like son? Dan Rooney had far too much individualism
to copy his famous father's every trait and mannerism. Rather, he
took what his father had helped build and made it even better -- not
just the Steelers, but also the league they played in -- and for
that reason will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on
Saturday.
The Rooneys will be only the second father and son enshrined in
Canton, joining father Tim Mara and son Wellington Mara of the New
York Giants.
"Dan helped build and manage one of the premier franchises in
sports and he has been a tremendous contributor to the overall
success in the league," NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said.
Soon after Dan Rooney graduated from Duquesne University and
took on an increasingly active role in the Steelers' organization,
it was evident he had been blessed with an ability to arbitrate,
mediate and delegate. Luckily, too, for the Steelers, he had better
organizational skills than his father, who sometimes based
decisions on what his heart told him rather than his head.
One of Dan Rooney's greatest strengths during his 45 seasons
with the Steelers has been a knack for relating to his players. He
is a former player himself, second team All-City quarterback for
Pittsburgh North Catholic in 1946.
"My teammates said, 'How could you let that guy beat you
out?"' Rooney said.
Turns out the first-team quarterback was Johnny Unitas, who
would later sign with but be cut by the Steelers. That kind of
personnel decision was rarely made after Dan Rooney officially took
over from his father as the Steelers' president in 1975, after
their first Super Bowl.
However, Dan Rooney had been running the Steelers for years,
without the title, and it was he who hired a relatively unknown
assistant with the Colts, Chuck Noll, as the Steelers' coach in
1969.
"He was the perfect guy for us," Rooney said.
The same could be said of Rooney himself.
Rooney was a ballboy, sold tickets and program advertising and
negotiated contracts even before he was 21; his father had to sign
his name since Dan himself could not legally sign.
Rooney also changed the Steelers' way of thinking.
During the 1950s and 1960s, his father allowed coach Buddy
Parker, who didn't believe in playing rookies, to deal away
numerous draft picks for a succession of over-the-hill veterans.
Dan Rooney, who felt a team could never sustain success without
first building a talent pool and then replenishing it, stepped in
and said it had to stop, and Parker resigned.
Under Rooney and Noll, and without a general manager, the
Steelers put together a string of remarkable drafts, picking seven
Hall of Fame players in six years: Joe Greene, Jack Ham, Mel
Blount, Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris, Jack Lambert and Mike
Webster. Not that Rooney and his father always agreed on every
move.
"Many times, when he would say this is the way something would
be, I would say, 'Now, you're pulling your stock certificate out on
me,"' Rooney said. "Basically, I've always tried to carry my own
way about it. I didn't try to emulate him or anyone else. I tried
to do what I felt was right."
That was evident after last season, when some in the
organization wanted coach Bill Cowher fired after 7-9 and 6-10
seasons. Rooney, who has had only two head coaches in 31 seasons
and believes in continuity, felt Cowher should stay.
Rooney might have been a candidate for Canton even if he hadn't
helped build the Steelers' dynasty.
As one of the NFL's most influential figures, he was largely
responsible for ending the player strikes in 1982 and 1987, for
increasing TV and marketing revenues and in crafting the salary cap
and free agency system that has allowed the league to play 12 years
without a regular season game lost to a labor dispute.
"I was not anti-player," he said. "So the players gained a
little bit of confidence in me and were able to say things to me. I
was able to say things that might not have been said by other
people."
He also was the chairman of the 1973 expansion committee that
awarded franchises to Tampa Bay and Seattle and serves on the
Management Council Executive Committee, NFL Properties Committee
and Player/Club Operations.
Saturday's enshrinement comes five months after the 67-year-old
Rooney ended 42 days of radiation treatment for prostate cancer. He
received a clean bill of health and his prognosis is excellent.
Currently, he is overseeing construction of the Steelers' new
stadium, due to open in 2001.
Even before the diagnosis, Rooney was easing his son and heir
apparent, Art II, into a greater role with the Steelers. Unlike his
father, who was trained as an architect but always was a football
guy, Art II's time is divided between the Steelers and his large
law firm.
"I think it's going to happen," Dan Rooney said of the
transition. "But when? I haven't made the decision yet."
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ALSO SEE
Dan Rooney's career highlights
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