Sports World and His City Mourn the Death of Longtime Steeler Owner

Art Rooney Sr. was best known for owning a football team, but it seemed as if he owned a whole city.

“When you think of Pittsburgh, it’s hard not to immediately think of Art Rooney,” said Art Modell, Cleveland Browns owner.

Rooney’s death Thursday morning drew an outpouring of sadness from throughout the country.

Players and coaches at the Steelers’ training camp in Latrobe, Pa., were visibly shaken. Former Super Bowl star Joe Greene sobbed when he heard the news.

“I just can’t talk now. I can’t talk,” Greene said.

Later, Greene reminisced about the man Modell called “the most popular sports figure in history.”

“It’s a sad time for sure, not just for me personally, but for the Steelers,” said Greene, the Steelers’ defensive line coach. “He’s truly one of the finest people I ever met.”

Chuck Noll, who has rarely displayed emotion in his 20 seasons as coach, had difficultly maintaining his composure.

“There’s not much to say,” Noll said. “He led a long, fruitful and productive life. He is going to be missed, there is no doubt about it.”

Fellow parishioners at St. Peter’s Catholic Church recalled how Rooney, an unpretentious millionaire, often invited neighborhood youngsters to sit in his private stadium box.

His office, filled with photos of Steeler coaches and players, didn’t have a door. Stadium ushers and the mailman were just as likely to be visitors as NFL owners.

“Will Rogers once said he never met a man he didn’t like. In Pittsburgh, no man who ever met Art Rooney didn’t like him,” said author Roy Blount Jr., who wrote about the Steelers in “Three Bricks Shy of a Load.”

Rooney was the only chairman the Steeler franchise has ever known. His son, Dan, has run the club’s front office for 20 years, but Rooney maintained daily office hours and kept up on NFL business. He was in his stadium office last week when he was stricken by dizziness associated with the stroke that killed him.

“Mr. Rooney leaves a legacy of decency, which he has contributed to the National Football League for half a century,” said Wellington Mara, a close friend and co-owner of the New York Giants.

It was Rooney who persuaded his fellow owners last spring to keep the NFL’s controversial instant-replay rule. Rooney was convinced that sports fans liked the rule.

“It’s just more than your normal loss of a business associate or good friend. He was such a unique individual,” said Tex Schramm, Dallas Cowboys president. “He was able to be a very, very close personal friend to so many people. He was just one of those gentlemen that you can truthfully say you loved.”

Rooney wasn’t just respected by his players, they loved him. Dick Hoak, an assistant coach and former Steelers running back, said Rooney once paid him a bonus that was larger than his annual salary. “The team is bad, but you’ve played good,” Rooney told him.

When the Pittsburgh Maulers of the defunct United States Football League offered him a lucrative coaching contract in 1984, Hoak turned it down to remain with the Steelers for less money.

“I couldn’t just walk across town to that other team,” Hoak said.

Rooney loved not just football, but horse racing, baseball, almost any sport that was in season. He attended most of the Pirates’ home games and visited daily with Manager Jim Leyland.

“He was there every day, and would write me notes when he wasn’t in town,” Leyland said. “I used to think that the only people who cared about the team were me, my coaches, my players, (General Manager) Syd Thrift and Art Rooney.”

Callers jammed radio talk show lines to remember the man called “The Chief,” and Pittsburgh’s three network TV stations scheduled memorial programs. Two local stations plan to televise Saturday’s funeral services.

Flags were lowered to half-staff on all the city’s public buildings and a memorial wreath was placed in the city-county building.