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Like father... Dan Rooney joining father in Pro Football Hall of Fame
ATLANTA (CNNSI.com) -- It's the age-old story of a son following in his father's footsteps. It's the way things were done in the golden age. Years ago, it was no different in the Rooney's Pittsburgh home. And as you'll read, it's no different today. It's a tradition that reaches back to the early days of the Pittsburgh Steelers -- and into the future of the four-time Super Bowl champion franchise. 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. 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 head 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 head 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."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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