Art Rooney: The Chief Who Built the Steelers

Arthur J. Rooney grew up in Coulter, a small mill community south of Pittsburgh, before becoming one of the most consequential figures in American sports history. His family had emigrated from Ireland in the eighteen hundreds, and Rooney himself was an accomplished athlete before turning to sports ownership and civic leadership.

In nineteen thirty-three, he purchased the Pittsburgh Steelers franchise in the National Football League for a reported two thousand five hundred dollars. For four decades the team struggled, but under Rooney's patient stewardship and with coach Chuck Noll and a legendary roster of talent, the Steelers won four Super Bowl championships during the nineteen seventies, becoming one of the defining dynasties of professional football. Rooney was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in nineteen sixty-four. He remained beloved in Pittsburgh until his death in nineteen eighty-eight, known as much for his decency as his championships.