Steelers’ chairman made lasting impact
Dan Rooney, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ powerful and popular chairman whose name is attached to the NFL’s landmark initiative in minority hiring, died Thursday. He was 84.
The team announced his death but details were not immediately available.
Mr. Rooney took over operation of the team in the 1960s from his father, Art, who founded the franchise. Dan Rooney oversaw NFL titles for a team that had not played in even a league title game. Over the decades, he became one of the most powerful and innovative forces within the game, developing the Rooney Rule under which NFL teams are required to interview minority candidates for coaching and front-office positions.
Mr. Rooney was also a key figure in labor negotiations and league expansion. In 2000, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, joining his father. Dan Rooney’s son, Art II, has been the Steelers’ president since 2003, with Mr. Rooney becoming chairman.
“My job is to do what’s best for the organization and to make that decision regardless of what the consequences are to me personally,” Mr. Rooney once said. “I take my position very seriously. What I want is an organization that can be together, one where everybody in the place has the same goal, and that is to win.”
And win the Steelers did. With superb drafts that brought in the likes of Joe Greene, Jack Ham, Jack Lambert, Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris, Mel Blount, John Stallworth, Lynn Swann, L.C. Greenwood and Mike Webster, the Steelers soon were dominating pro football. Led by the Steel Curtain defense, the 1970s dynasty won four Super Bowls and produced 10 Hall of Famers, including head coach Chuck Noll.
The Steelers have won two more Super Bowls since then, under Bill Cowher (2006) and Mike Tomlin (2009).
Mr. Rooney was such a fixture in the Steel City that he regularly walked to home games. He mingled with fans, much as his father did before him, and was loved by his players.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell called Mr. Rooney “one of the finest men in the history of our game,” adding his “dedication to the game, to the players and the coaches, to his beloved Pittsburgh, and to Steelers fans everywhere was unparalleled.”
Mr. Rooney later became President Obama’s ambassador to Ireland, but his most lasting contribution — to sports in general — came with the Rooney Rule.
With many criticizing the NFL over the lack of minorities in high-profile jobs, particularly as head coaches, Mr. Rooney worked with then-commissioner Paul Tagliabue on a hiring policy that was fair and transparent. The measure passed in 2003.