It doesn’t matter how the player was obtained, whether drafted, signed in free agency or acquired in a trade. Once they arrived with the Steelers, the feeling among each and every person in the locker room was universally shared.
They felt like part of a family.
The reason was Dan Rooney, who looked at his players as though they were his kids and the members of the front office as part of an extended family.
But, no matter how busy he was handling matters with the Steelers or even the National Football League, Rooney always managed to find time for his real family.
And it was quite a large family, just like he and his wife, Patricia, were accustomed.
Rooney was one of five children, all boys. Pat was one of 10. Together, through 65 years of marriage, they had nine children — five girls and four boys. When they traveled to league meetings, which they often did together, Pat’s sisters would help babysit the kids.
Each summer, said Art Rooney II, the oldest of the nine kids, his mom and dad would take them on a vacation, sometimes to the beach at Spring Lake, N.J., other times on educational getaways to the Civil War battlefields or Ireland. The biggest and most ambitious vacation came in 2003 when 30 members of the Rooney family, including in-laws and grandchildren, reenacted and retraced parts of the Lewis & Clark expedition from nearly 200 years ago.
“A lot of times he’d try to throw some history in the trip and sometimes it would cause more controversy because some people just wanted to go to the beach,” said Art II, president of the Steelers. “He enjoyed planning those trips. It was something he always loved — to have us learn something while we are on vacation.”
The Lewis and Clark vacation covered nearly 1,000 miles, beginning in the middle of June in Billings, Mont., and ending a month later in Seaside, Ore., the site where Lewis and Clark finally reached the Pacific Ocean. Dan Rooney kept a daily journal of the trip that was eventually made into a magazine — “Rediscovering Lewis and Clark: A Journey with the Rooney Family” — replete with personal photos.
“He’d always try to make sure we’d have a big family getaway,” Art II said.
Some of those other vacations actually felt like an expedition because Rooney would cram his wife and kids into a station wagon and drive to the beach or the Civil War battlefields.
“The first time we did the Civil War trip was back when we were all young,” Art II said. “He packed us all in the station wagon and we drove around in the station wagon. It was one of those summers when it seemed to rain a lot and we’re slogging through the battlefields of Maryland and Virginia and there was a lot of complaining about being stuffed in the back of the station wagon.
“I remember one year the whole station wagon was packed full of stuff and there was room for one person in the way back. I was the one assigned to the way back because I was the oldest.”
Dan Rooney often took his kids to Spring Lake, a quaint, coastal resort that was once considered a haven for New York and Philadelphia high society, because that’s where he and his brothers would go on vacation with their parents. One of the reasons the Rooneys started going there is because Dan’s dad, Art Sr., the Steelers founder, liked how close it was to Monmouth Park Racetrack, his grandson said.
That was never an easy trip because of the size of the family. There were nine in all: girls Patricia, Kathleen, Rita, Mary and Joan; and boys Art II, Dan Jr., John and Jim. Kathleen, who was married to Tom Miller, was 31 when she died in 1987. Rita, who was living in Boston, died in 2012. She was 54.
Two of Dan’s sons are part of the Steelers’ hierarchy. Like his dad, Art began as a ball boy and worked his way to team president. And, like his dad, he is one of the most respected and commanding voices in league matters. Dan Jr, is player personnel coordinator for the Steelers.
“He enjoyed every summer planning some kind of family trip,” Art II said.
Rooney carried that same family mentality to the Steelers organization, where the players often looked at him as a father figure, not just the owner/chairman.
He enjoyed special relationships with many of the players, including Hall of Fame defensive tackle Joe Greene. One of his most painful moments came in 1992 when he had to tell Greene, the cornerstone of the franchise during the team’s Super Bowl heyday, he was no longer a candidate to become head coach to replace Chuck Noll.
Rooney once said his greatest regret was not re-signing Franco Harris during a lengthy contract holdout in 1984, an impasse that resulted in the team’s all-time leading rusher being released. Harris was just 363 yards away from breaking Jim Brown’s all-time rushing record and finished his career by playing eight games in Seattle.
“I should have just signed him,” Rooney said at the time.
“He always cared about everybody individually and wanted to know about their families,” Art II said. “He enjoyed having the annual Christmas party when all the families would come together. He loved that.”
But, no matter how much he loved his team and the players, Dan Rooney’s fondest affection was reserved for his own family.
“He was good to us all,” Art II said.
Gerry Dulac: gdulac@post-gazette.com.
First Published: April 18, 2017, 4:00 a.m.
Updated: April 18, 2017, 9:00 a.m.
