Fighting Words of Rooney

In a column on Art Rooney, late owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Vito Stellino of the Baltimore Sun told of a time when Rooney got into an argument with Chicago Bears owner George Halas over $500.

Stellino: “Rooney had agreed to shift a game for $500, but when his 40% share of the gate came to $3,200, Halas argued that he was already getting $700 more than the $2,500 guarantee.

“The two men made their points until Halas got up from behind his desk and said, ‘I’ll fight you for it.’

“Rooney laughed, said he didn’t want to fight, but finally prevailed and got his check for $3,700.

“As Rooney got to the door of Halas’ office, he turned and said, ‘George, you know if we’d had that fight, you were no sure thing.’ ”

According to the Steeler press guide, Rooney was an outstanding boxer at Duquesne University and was named to the 1920 U.S. Olympic team but did not participate.

Add Rooney: People forever are being paid glowing tributes after they have died, but Rooney received this one while he was still alive from Supreme Court Justice Byron (Whizzer) White, one of his former players: “Art Rooney is the finest person I have ever known.”

Add White: After leading the nation in rushing and scoring at the University of Colorado, White signed with the Steelers, then known as the Pirates, for a record $15,800 in 1938.

He led the National Football League in rushing, but the Pirates went 2-9. During a bye week in November, the Pirates played two games in three days with the semipro Los Angeles Bulldogs. The Pirates lost the first, 17-6, and played to a 14-14 tie in the second.

No statistics were kept, but in the second game, played before a capacity crowd of 18,500 at Gilmore Stadium, White thrilled the crowd with his open-field running. He had runs of 20 and 32 yards from scrimmage and returned an interception 30 yards.

Trivia Time: Name a professional football player in Los Angeles who was called Crazy Legs. (Answer below.)

From Phil Jackman of the Baltimore Evening Sun: “Progression dictates that by the year 2070, the center-field fence in Yankee Stadium will be right at the second-base bag. Since 1975, when the wall was 461 feet away in the North Bronx while home plate was in the South Bronx, the barrier has been moved in 53 feet in three moves.”

How-Times-Have-Changed Dept.: Seventy years ago today, when the New York Giants beat the Brooklyn Dodgers, 1-0, the game was played in 57 minutes.

Said Oklahoma City University’s basketball coach, Abe Lemons, when asked about his golf game: “People won’t play with me anymore because I don’t do traps. I just pick it out and play. They say I’m cheating, and I say I don’t even keep score. They say I’m demeaning the game of golf, and I say . . . the game of golf.”

Paul Hornung, asked about the Washington Redskins’ chances of repeating, told The Washington Post: “I saw Joe Jacoby working out this off-season, and he’d be motivation enough if I were a running back trying to repeat. Hell, if I didn’t gain 1,000 yards behind him, it’d be a miracle. He’s a house.”

Trivia Answer: The first was Los Angeles Bulldogs running back Ed (Crazy Legs) Stark, whose open-field brilliance rivaled that of Pittsburgh Pirates running back Byron (Whizzer) White when the teams met in 1938. The second was Ram receiver Elroy (Crazy Legs) Hirsch.

Quotebook

Riverside City College’s basketball coach, Bob Boyd, asked how he did recruiting against John Wooden when he was at USC: “Against Wooden, pretty good. Against Sam Gilbert, not so good.”