Dan Rooney - Life and Career

Life and Career

Rooney was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of Kathleen (née McNulty) and Pittsburgh Steelers' owner Art Rooney. In the Steelers organization, Rooney has been involved in every aspect of the franchise since he was a young boy, often assisting his father at Pitt Stadium and Forbes Field. He grew up in the North Side neighborhood of Pittsburgh and attended North Catholic High School where he excelled as the team's quarterback. He shared quarterback duties with future CIA Director and lifelong friend Michael Hayden, both of whom also attended Duquesne University. Rooney was mentored by Fran Fogerty, Joe Carr, and Ed Kiely. These men assisted in teaching Dan the business of football. After being mentored and graduating from Duquesne University he knew football was what he wanted to pursue. He then met his future wife in the office of the Steelers where she was currently working. The couple got married soon after. By early 1969 Rooney was managing the day to day operations of the team and personally selected the coaching hire of Chuck Noll. He was appointed team president in 1975 and was officially given full operational control of the franchise by his father who remained Chairman and President Emeritus, as well as the public face of the franchise until his death in 1988. During his tenure, he has implemented a philosophy and management style that emphasizes open, practical and efficient management. The results have been obvious: since 1972, the Steelers have won 15 division championships, 8 AFC Championships, and an NFL record 6 Super Bowl Championships. Rooney became the patriarch and controlling owner of the team in 1988, following the death of his father. In 2003, Rooney followed in his father's footsteps by slowly ceding day to day operations of the franchise to the next generation of the family. Although still chairman and to many fans the public face of the team, his son Art Rooney II has now assumed full operational control of the Steelers.

Dan Rooney is a graduate of Duquesne University, majoring in accounting. He has been involved with the Steelers since 1960, originally working as director of personnel. While Rooney has generally avoided the spotlight, he has been a very active owner behind the scenes. Rooney helped lead the negotiations of the collective bargaining agreement of 1982, and is largely credited both by owners and players of having ended a strike that lasted half of the season. He is also one of the main architects of the salary cap, which was implemented in 1993. He surprised many with his public endorsement of Barack Obama for president. The family had traditionally been very private on politics, even being rumored to have a Republican bent. Rooney responded to his public endorsement with: "When I think of Barack Obama’s America I have great hope. I support his candidacy and look forward to his Presidency." Rooney is the benefactor of the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature and Vice-Chairman of The American Ireland Fund. He is also a Founding Chairman of The Mentoring Partnership of Southwestern Pennsylvania. In 2008, Rooney became an honorary Commander of the British Empire. In 2009 he won the 2009 Jack Horrigan Memorial Award, presented by the Professional Football Writers of America to a professional football official or player "for his or her professionalism in helping football writers do their job".

He was named to the PoliticsPA list of "Sy Snyder's Power 50" list of influential individuals in Pennsylvania politics in 2002.

Read more about this topic:  Dan Rooney

Famous quotes containing the words life and, life and/or career:

    Whoever influences the child’s life ought to try to give him a positive view of himself and of his world. The child’s future happiness and his ability to cope with life and relate to others will depend on it.
    Bruno Bettelheim (20th century)

    In a period of a people’s life that bears the designation “transitional,” the task of a thinking individual, of a sincere citizen of his country, is to go forward, despite the dirt and difficulty of the path, to go forward without losing from view even for a moment those fundamental ideals on which the entire existence of the society to which he belongs is built.
    Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev (1818–1883)

    It is a great many years since at the outset of my career I had to think seriously what life had to offer that was worth having. I came to the conclusion that the chief good for me was freedom to learn, think, and say what I pleased, when I pleased. I have acted on that conviction... and though strongly, and perhaps wisely, warned that I should probably come to grief, I am entirely satisfied with the results of the line of action I have adopted.
    Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)