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Updated 11 hours ago

The unofficial club of National Football League owners was, many years ago, a collection of larger-than-life, almost mythical figures.

They brought wildly different styles, including the rebellious aggression of the Oakland Raiders' Al Davis, the jack-of-all-trades genius of the Chicago Bears' George Halas and the revered influence of the New York Football Giants' Wellington Mara.

Dan Rooney was a key member of that club.

But with his death April 13, that chapter in history closed.

“For many teams, there is still a connection to the past, but the actual patriarchs are gone,” said football historian Joe Horrigan, the Pro Football Hall of Fame Executive Director. “There does seem to be a changing of the guard. It's something to reflect on. It does change things.”

Rooney, who was put to rest in a private service Tuesday, went about his business in a more reserved, behind-the scenes fashion than many of his counterparts.

“He wasn't the first guy to jump into the conversation and tell you what he thought,” said Anne Madarasz, director of Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum at Heinz History Center. “He wanted to hear everyone else first, and then lead and moderate. He listened before he talked, in every arena. In some ways, his son is like that too. They are thoughtful, shrewd people who are adept at reading a room and bringing people to consensus.”

Today, the longest-serving NFL owner is Bill Bidwill, owner of the Arizona Cardinals since 1972.

Several other teams have remained in family control after the patriarch died, including the Bowlen family in Denver, the Mara family in New York, the Davis family in Oakland and the Halas family in Chicago. The Steelers remain in the Rooney family, with Art Rooney II owning a 60 percent share.

But whereas owners of yesteryear had to promote football, which some viewed as a fringe sport, owners of today control the most lucrative sports league in America. In today's NFL, flamboyance and personality is not needed. Business acumen is.

“You did once have a lot of different personalities,” Horrigan said. “Now, you're looking for (owners who are) driven, stable.”

Rooney was that, too. Before the 1970s, the Steelers made the playoffs once, in 1947. Rooney took over the Steelers from his father, Art Rooney — also an iconic NFL owner — and turned the team into a dynasty.

As the league's popularity soared, Rooney was often the man behind the scenes persuading owners to present a unified front to the world, Horrigan said.

“He was able to convince owners that the league was more important than individual teams,” Horrigan said. “Often that meant sacrifice. … You had 32 very diverse owners or ownership groups, and he got them to have a singular voice. He was such an influential force — it's a rare individual who can work quietly behind the scenes and get consensus.”

His and the Steelers' success was particularly important to Pittsburgh, Madarasz said, as the winning began just as the steel industry began to fail.

“He recognized what the team meant to the city,” she said. “His legacy begins at the time the old identity of the city is beginning to dissolve. He was part of creating a new identity, Pittsburgh as the City of Champions, just as the Steel City began to fade.

“Other owners would have moved,” Madarasz added. “The economy was disintegrating and disappearing, but the Rooneys chose to keep the Steelers here. They kept them here and they became central to the identity of the team. Without the Rooneys, would there be football in Pittsburgh? What would be the city's identity?”

The last of the old guard is gone, but his impact lives on.

It lives on in the NFL, where the “Rooney Rule” mandates every team interview a minority for coaching jobs. It lives on in Pittsburgh, which might not even have a pro football team today had the lifelong North Sider decided to leave.

Dan Rooney “epitomized all that is great about this game that he and his family helped grow into an American institution,” Pro Football Hall of Fame President and CEO David Baker said shortly after his death. “His impact on the game was profound.”

Chris Togneri is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 412-380-5632 or ctogneri@tribweb.com.

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