The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Steelers chairman Rooney dies at 84
Dan Rooney, the powerful and popular Pittsburgh Steelers chairman whose name is attached to the NFL’s landmark initiative in minority hiring, died Thursday. He was 84.
Dan Rooney, the powerful and popular Pittsburgh Steelers 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.
Rooney took over operation of the team in the 1960s from his father, Art, who founded the franchise. From there, Dan Rooney oversaw NFL championships for a team that had never even played in 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. He was a key figure in labor negotiations and league expansion.
In 2000, Dan Rooney 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 Dan 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,” Dan 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 led to the building of the Steel Curtain defense and a potent offense, Pittsburgh eventually saw nine mainstays from the 1970s dynasty, plus coach Chuck Noll, make the Hall of Fame.
Under Rooney, two stadiums were built in Pittsburgh, securing their place in a small market where they are sporting kings. A confidant of three commissioners, he played a major role in negotiations with the players’ union and in league expansion in 1976 to Seattle and Tampa. He also was involved in scheduling and realignment decisions.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell called Rooney “one of the finest men in the history of our game,” adding Rooney’s “dedication to the game, to the players and the coaches, to his beloved Pittsburgh, and to Steelers fans everywhere was unparalleled.”
Perhaps Rooney’s most lasting contribution to the NFL — and to sports in general — came with the Rooney Rule.
Then-Commissioner Paul Tagliabue and league lawyers recognized the need for a hiring policy that was fair and transparent; the NFL had many critics over the lack of minorities in highprofile jobs, particularly as head coaches.
Rooney brought new employment requirements to his fellow owners and got the measure passed.
Hernandez trial
The jury in the doublemurder trial of ex-NFL star Aaron Hernandez has completed its fifth day of deliberations without reaching a verdict.
The former New England Patriots tight end is accused of shooting two men in Boston in 2012. Hernandez’s lawyers say a former friend shot the men over drugs.
The jury has deliberated for 32 hours. Deliberations are set to resume today.
The judge said a clerk received a call from Patriots coach Bill Belichick’s attorney asking if Belichick faces consequences for not appearing in court. Hernandez’s lawyers tried to subpoena him late in the trial, but a process server was unable to serve Belichick with a subpoena.