The Steelers will wear a patch on their jerseys this upcoming season as a tribute to late owner Dan Rooney.
The team made the announcement Monday morning.
We will wear a patch on our jerseys this season to honor Dan Rooney.
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) July 24, 2017
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Players will sport the patch on the right side of their jerseys featuring Rooney’s initials “DMR” — for his full name Daniel Milton Rooney. The initials will be “enveloped in a black-and-gold shamrock to honor, remember and show love and respect for the man who was more than an owner, but family to the players,” the Steelers said in a statement.
Rooney died April 13 in Pittsburgh after a brief illness. He was 84.
“We wanted to have something my dad would be proud of and really called out parts of his life that were important to him,” Steelers president Art Rooney II said in a release. “The shamrock is something he would be happy about.”
Under Dan Rooney’s leadership since the late 1960s, the Steelers transformed into a Super Bowl dynasty in the 1970s and remain among the most successful and popular franchises in the game.
In 2014, the Steelers wore a decal on the back of their helmets to honor former coach Chuck Noll, with his initials “CHN.”
Another tribute is planned next weekend for Rooney at Saint Vincent College, where the Steelers report for camp Thursday. An open Mass to celebrate Rooney’s life is set for 11:30 a.m. July 30 at Saint Vincent.
Brother Norman W. Hipps, Saint Vincent College president, said fans can take time to remember Rooney and his father, Art Rooney, the founder and original owner of the team, who died in 1988.
The Steelers have held training camp at Saint Vincent for more than 50 years.
Open practices in Latrobe run through Aug. 18., with a few off days and closed practices scattered in between. Saint Vincent is anticipating 10,000 to 15,000 total attendees.
First Published: July 24, 2017, 1:09 p.m.
