Dan Rooney
Dan Rooney
Daniel Milton "Dan" Rooneyis the former United States Ambassador to Ireland, who served from July 3, 2009 until his resignation in 2012. He is chairman of the Pittsburgh Steelers football team in the National Football League, which was founded by his father, Art. Rooney was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2000 for his contributions to the game. He is credited with spearheading a requirement that NFL teams with head coach and general manager vacancies interview at...
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth20 July 1932
CityPittsburgh, PA
We're so proud to bring it back to Pittsburgh.
The biggest thing my father passed on to me, and I hope we've continued it, is to treat people right. We treat our players as family, not workers. We're concerned for them away from the field and whatever problems they might have. My father always had a relationship with the players. And I've tried to do the same.
I would have hoped there would have been more minority hires right now.
This is real good for the game. I always said it in the '70s: What we need as a league is one good, dominant team, and then let everybody else fight it out.
I would say this probably compares to our first time, Super Bowl IX. It's very similar, these young guys we have, just like the players then. It's really their turn, their time up. The kind of people they are, it's a close team, they've done things the hard way although it probably worked out, home and away.
I'll never forget this because our doctor told (Rooney) he didn't think Rod would be able to make the trip and that they were thinking about checking him into the hospital,
Paul knows how to lead. It's that simple.
I think they're meeting and there is some progress. But it's not enough, unfortunately.
Fans here are very knowledgeable, but at the same time they want us to win, and they want to see you coming along.
It was a compromise by all parties and I think that makes it great.
It is going to be by itself, I think. That is what our hope is, to do it that way.
Revenue sharing is a tough thing but it's great.
I would say we're partners with the players now. There's owners that would resist it now, but ... I really think that's the way it should be.
It starts before the draft. We interview them, and we talk to them about it. We want players who are a good fit for our locker room. And having smart players, that's an important phase of it.