No one had more influence and effect on the National Football League for such an extended time than Dan Rooney, according to one who should know.
“I don’t think there are any figures more important than Dan Rooney over the years,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Friday from his family vacation in Europe. “His influence on the game, which of course is reflected in his Hall of Fame election, but he stands tall among all of them. His influence in taking on very difficult challenges, especially during difficult periods in labor relations; he was a trusted and an important figure during that time.”
Goodell talked about the many unheralded works Rooney performed in the NFL over the years, and then there was a big one named after him — the league policy that requires all NFL teams to interview minorities in the process of hiring a head coach.
“Of course, the Rooney Rule that was not only ground-breaking in the NFL but in all of sports and beyond sports,” Goodell said.
The two men forged a friendship long before Dan Rooney knocked on Goodell’s hotel room door in 2006 to inform him he had just been elected commissioner.
“I can’t think of anyone I was closer to in the NFL, by far,” Goodell said. “I just admired him on every single level.
“He was a friend, a mentor, almost a father-like figure for so many years, well before I became commissioner. We would speak almost every day about the league, about different issues, the history of the game, the importance of things, what made the league successful.
“I never really thought about it at the time, but he was really preparing me, preparing me to help make decisions, on the knowledge of the league. He was not only historical in a sense of what he knew and what he had been through, but what was important being successful going forward.”
Before he became commissioner, Goodell worked with Rooney and others on the major realignment in the NFL that would go into effect in 2002 after the expansion to 32 teams.
“The care and thought he took and the importance of maintaining rivalries, for example, there wasn’t anyone like him to do that. That’s where I truly understood the importance of this league to him, and what he meant to the league will be part of his legacy forever.”
Goodell helped keep the Steelers in the Rooney family during the transformation of the franchise ownership in 2008. Some of Rooney’s brothers investigated selling the team to billionaire hedge fund manager Stanley Druckenmller, a Pittsburgh native. While Druckenmiller promised to keep the Rooneys running the Steelers, Goodell preferred they remain under Rooney ownership. He reminded the brothers, during a meeting in New York, that if they sold the franchise, it might not be approved by the 31 other team owners.
“I think that’s what helps make our league great, the importance of these families not only in our history but in our future,” Goodell said. “We encourage family ownership.”
Goodell said he sees no dramatic changes in that ownership under Dan’s son, team president Art Rooney II, grandson of franchise founder Art Rooney Sr., known by many as the Chief.
“I am confident the family has planned for that. Art is firmly entrenched as the leader of that franchise and has done a fantastic job.
“Dan took over from the Chief, who was thought to be insurmountable in our history. The Chief has his own place and Dan has his own place, and now they leave it in the hands of Art, who I know will continue with his leadership and importance in the Pittsburgh community.
“One of the things I loved about Dan was he understood his roots, the importance of those roots. And his devotion to the city of Pittsburgh was unmatched by anyone.”
Ed Bouchette: ebouchette@post-gazette.com
First Published: April 14, 2017, 2:02 p.m.
