Steelers Chair DAN ROONEY passed away on Thursday, and "much of the history of the league died with him," according to Peter King of THE MMQB. Rooney played a "key role in four labor negotiations" between the NFL and NFLPA, and was the "most significant diplomat between players and owners in NFL history." Rooney was "intensely loyal to his team" and was "as loyal to his league." When asked how frequently he talked to and learned from Rooney, NFL Commissioner ROGER GOODELL said, "It was more than weekly. Really, it was daily. I talked to him almost daily. It goes back, I'd say, 30 years." Goodell: "So many of the conversations I had with him, I came to realize, were to prepare me to become commissioner. He has such a strong sense of history. He has a perspective that is unmatched by anybody in the league." Former NFL Commissioner PAUL TAGLIABUE said of Rooney, "His values were so traditional, but he was one of the first people to support major change and innovation. Stadium financing, the salary cap. He was for free agency, and for fundamental changes in how players were treated" (MMQB.SI.com, 4/17). In Boston, Ben Volin noted Patriots Owner ROBERT KRAFT remembers Rooney as someone who "wasn't afraid to reach out with advice or lend a sympathetic ear." Kraft: "He was special in that he always was welcoming and easy to talk to and tried to be helpful. When I had questions, there was no one really to turn to, and he was someone that was really helpful. He was also very loving and gracious." Rooney was "one of the few NFL insiders willing to help" Kraft when he began running the Patriots (BOSTON GLOBE, 4/16).
FAMILY MENTALITY: ESPN's Gene Wojciechowski said, "Very few team owners are respected by their peers, their players, their fans and even their critics. Dan Rooney was one of those very few. ... Rooney didn't just believe in diversity hiring, he practiced it, and he understood an eternal truth about overseeing a sports franchise: Don't insult the customers. ... He was about the organization, about winning. That was the real Rooney rule" ("The Sports Reporters," ESPN, 4/16). In Pittsburgh, Sean Gentille wrote a statue of Rooney "should stand outside Heinz Field, and it should go up as soon as possible." It would "look great, and it certainly feels right" (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 4/15). Also in Pittsburgh, Gerry Dulac noted Rooney carried a "family mentality to the Steelers organization, where the players often looked at him as a father figure, not just the owner" (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 4/16).
