Arthur Joseph "Art" Rooney, Sr., often referred to as "The Chief", was the
founding owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers American football franchise in
the National Football League from 1933 until his death, a member of the NFL
Hall of Fame since 1964, an Olympic qualifying boxer and part or whole owner
in several track sport venues and Pittsburgh area pro-teams. Rooney was
the first president of the Pittsburgh Steelers and first chairman of the team
Family history Rooney's great-grandparents, James and
Mary Rooney, were Irish Catholics who immigrated from Newry in County Down,
Ireland to Canada during the Irish potato famine in the 1840s. While living
in Montreal, the Rooneys had a son, Arthur. James and Mary later moved to
Ebbw Vale, Wales, where the iron industry was flourishing, taking their
son Arthur, then 21, with them. This Arthur Rooney married Catherine Regan,
in Wales, and they had a son, Dan. Two years after Dan Rooney was born, the
family moved back to Canada and eventually ended up in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania in 1884. Along the way the family grew to include nine children of
which Dan was the second. Dan Rooney remained in the Pittsburgh
area, and eventually opened a saloon in the Monongahela Valley coal town of
Coulter, Pennsylvania. This is where Dan Rooney met and wed Margaret "Maggie"
Murray, who was the daughter of a coal miner, and where the couple's first son,
Arthur Joseph Rooney, was born. Dan and Maggie would eventually settle their
family in Pittsburgh's North Side in 1913, where they bought a three story
building at the corner of Corey Street and General Robinson Street. Dan
operated a cafe and saloon out of the first floor with the family living
above. The building was located just a block from Exposition Park, which had
been home to the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team until 1909.
Education and athletics Rooney attended St. Peter's Catholic
School in Pittsburgh, Duquesne University Prep School, then several
semesters at Indiana Normal School before completing a final year at Temple
University on an athletic scholarship. After graduation he dedicated himself to
sports, winning the AAU welterweight belt in 1918 and tried out for the 1920
Olympic Team, he played minor league baseball for both the Flint, Michigan
"Vehicles" and the Wheeling, West Virginia "Stogies". In 1925 he served as
Wheeling's player-manager and led the Middle Atlantic League in games, hits,
runs, stolen bases and finished 2nd in batting average as his brother Dan
Rooney finished 3rd in BA. Art also played halfback for the semi-pro
Pittsburgh "Hope Harvey" and "Majestic Radio" clubs which he later took over
and renamed the J.P. Rooneys before purchasing an NFL franchise for $2,500
in 1933. Pittsburgh Steelers
Rooney's affiliation with the National Football League began in 1933 when he
paid a $2,500 franchise fee to found a club based in the city of Pittsburgh. He
had named his new team the "Pirates" which was also the name of the city's
long-established Major League Baseball club of which Rooney was a fan since a
childhood spent in the shadow of the team's stadium.
Since the league's inception in 1920, the NFL had wanted a team in Pittsburgh
due to the city's already-long history with football as well as the popularity
of the Pittsburgh Panthers football team, an NCAA national championship
contender during this period. The league was finally able to take advantage of
Pennsylvania relaxing their blue laws that prior to 1933 prohibited sporting
events from taking place on Sundays, when most NFL games take place.
In 1936, Rooney won a parlay at Saratoga Race Course, which netted him about
$160,000. He used the winnings to hire a coach, Joe Bach, give contracts to his
players and almost win a championship. The winnings funded the team until 1941
when he sold the franchise to NY playboy Alex Thompson. Thompson wanted to move
the franchise to Boston so he could be within a five-hour train ride of his
club. At the same time, the Philadelphia Eagles ran into financial problems.
Rooney used the funds from the sale of franchise to get a 70% interest in the
Eagles, the other 30% held by Rooney friend and future NFL commissioner, Bert
Bell. Bell and Rooney agreed to trade places with Thompson. Bell took the role
of President of the Steelers that he relinquished to Rooney in 1946 when Bell
became Commissioner. Rooney got his good friend and his sister's father in law,
Barney McGinley, to buy Bell's shares. Barney's son Jack, Art's brother in law,
retained the McGinley interest that passed to his heirs when he died in
2006. Rooney sent shock waves through the NFL
by signing Byron "Whizzer" White to a record-breaking $15,000 contract in
1938. This move, however, did not bring the Pirates a winning season, and White
left the team for the Detroit Lions the following year. The club did not have a
season above .500 until 1942, the year after they were renamed the Pittsburgh
Steelers. During World War II, the Steelers had
some financial difficulties and were merged with the Philadelphia Eagles in
1943 and the Chicago Cardinals in 1944. After the war, Rooney became team
president. He longed to bring an NFL title to Pittsburgh but was never able
to beat the powerhouse teams, like the Cleveland Browns and Green Bay Packers.
The Steelers also struggled with playing in a city and era where baseball was
king and were treated as something of a joke compared to the Pirates. The team
also made some questionable personnel calls at the time such as cutting a
then-unknown Johnny Unitas in training camp and trading their first round pick
in the 1965 draft to the Chicago Bears, among others.
Nevertheless, Rooney was popular with owners as a mediator, which would carry
over to his son Dan Rooney. He was the only owner to vote against moving the
rights of the New York Yanks to Dallas, Texas after the 1951 season due to
concerns of racism in the South at the time. In 1963, along with Bears owner
George Halas, Rooney was one of two owners to vote for the 1925 NFL
Championship to be reinstated to the long-defunct Pottsville Maroons.
Pittsburgh Penguins As a pillar of the community in many
aspects, Rooney was asked to lend his considerable influence in the city's bid
to reclaim a NHL franchise during the league's first ever expansion in 1967.
Although Pittsburgh enjoyed championship hockey with the professional but "minor
league" Pittsburgh Hornets since its NHL franchise disbanded in 1930 from the
effects of the Great Depression, many city leaders were pushing for the region
to become more "major league" suggesting that Mr. Rooney use his influence in the
sports industry to have the league award Pittsburgh a franchise. Rooney proved
his worth and from 1967 until the early 1970s was a part owner of the Pittsburgh
Penguins. Homestead Grays
In a 1981 interview by the Pittsburgh Press Rooney related that "from time to
time he had helped financially support the Negro League team, the Homestead
Grays, and . . . was a better baseball fan than football fan."
Track sports Rooney also acquired the Yonkers Raceway
in 1972, the Palm Beach Kennel Club, Green Mountain Kennel Club in Vermont,
Shamrock Stables in Maryland and owned the Liberty Bell Park Racetrack outside
Philadelphia. Later life
Following the AFL-NFL merger in 1970, the Steelers agreed to leave the NFL
Eastern Conference and joined the AFC Central Division.
Through expert scouting, the Steelers became a power. In 1972, they began a
remarkable 8–year run of playoff appearances, and thirteen straight years
of winning seasons, including three additional playoff berths. In Rooney's
41st season as owner, the club won the Super Bowl. They followed up with Super
Bowl victories following the 1975, 1978 and 1979 seasons. They have also won the
2005 and 2008 Super Bowls. Making the Steelers the first team following the
AFL-NFL merger, to win six Super Bowls. Following the Steelers' victory in Super
Bowl IX, Rooney stepped down from day-to-day management of the team, but
remained the ultimate source of authority until his death. Dan, his son,
took over as team president. Rooney died from complications of a stroke on August
25, 1988. An August 1987 Pittsburgh Press story stated that Rooney never
missed a Hall of Fame induction ceremony in all 25 years, and that he was asked
to present his third inductee, John Henry Johnson that month. In memory of
"The Chief," Steelers wore a patch on the left shoulder of their uniforms with
Rooney's initials AJR for the entire season. The team ended up finishing
5-11, their worst record since a 1–13 showing in 1969. He is buried at the
North Side Catholic Cemetery in Pittsburgh.
Legacy In 1964, he was elected to the Pro
Football Hall of Fame. Duquesne University named their football field in
his honor in 1993. In 1999 Rooney ranked 81st on the Sporting News' "100 Most
Powerful Sports Figures of the 20th Century" list. A statue of his likeness
graces the entrance to the home of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Heinz Field. The
street that runs adjacent to Heinz Field on Pittsburgh's North Side is named "Art
Rooney Avenue" in his honor. In 2000, he was inducted as a "pioneer" into the
American Football Association's Semi-Pro Football Hall of Fame.
During Rooney's life, the Steelers would often use a late-round draft pick on a
player from a local college like Pitt, West Virginia or Penn State. Though
these players rarely made the team, this practice was intended to appeal to local
fans and players. The team has occasionally employed this practice
after Rooney's death, however, they now focus more on talent than geography
throughout the entire draft. Rooney also supposedly liked players from Notre Dame
due to his Irish Catholic background, which some say explains why he allegedly
had the team keep Notre Dame alumnus and wounded Vietnam veteran Rocky Bleier.
Bleier would go on to become one of the key members of the team's success in the
1970s. Art Rooney is the subject of, and the
only character in, the one-man play The Chief, written by Gene Collier and Rob
Zellers. The play debuted at the Pittsburgh Public Theater in 2003, and
has been revived on three occasions since then. All productions have starred
Tom Atkins as Rooney. Today, Rooney is one of the city's most
beloved figures. Few are talked about with as much reverence as Rooney. At
Steeler games, there is a sign that shows a picture of Rooney with his
characteristic cigar and under the photo, the word "Believe."
Art J. Rooney was for 51 years, until her 1982 death, married to Kathleen
Rooney née McNulty. Kathleen was the mother of Art's five sons, who are Dan
Rooney, the chairman of the board of directors of the Pittsburgh Steelers and
a former United States Ambassador to Ireland, Art Rooney, Jr., Timothy
Rooney, Patrick Rooney and John Rooney. She is also grandmother of the couple's
32 grandchildren, including current Steelers president Art Rooney II and
U.S. Representative Thomas J. Rooney. This sole marriage of either partner
also has descended some 75 great grandchildren, including actress sisters
Kate Mara and Rooney Mara. References
General Klavon, Jacqueline E. "Rooney, Arthur
Joseph bio". Pennsylvania Center for the Book. Retrieved May 4, 2011.
Specific Further reading
O'Brien, Jim. The Chief: Art Rooney and his Pittsburgh Steelers. Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania: James P. O'Brien - Publishing. ISBN 1-886348-06-5.
External links Art Rooney at the Pro Football Hall of
Fame