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Arthur J. Rooney, Jr. |
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Steelers Career Highlights:
Arthur J. Rooney, Jr. is the second son of the Pittsburgh Steelers Football Club founder, Arthur J. Rooney, Sr. Art Rooney, Jr. has four brothers, Dan – (Deceased) Chairman of the Pittsburgh Steelers Football Club, Tim – President of recently sold Yonkers Raceway, Pat – President of Palm Beach Kennel Club and John – Vice President of Palm Beach Kennel Club. These are all Rooney Family businesses. Art Jr. is a past member of the Board of Directors of each of these businesses. Art, Jr. was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He attended North Catholic High School and received a degree in history at St. Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Mr. Rooney is very interested in American Civil War History. Rooney participated in football both at North Catholic and St. Vincent College. He was also a member of the United States Marine Corps Reserves. Art Jr. has been around the team all his life starting out as a ball boy and assisting at camp. Art, Jr. has been employed with the Steelers since 1961 starting in the ticket office. From 1965 through 1986, Art, Jr. was in charge of the Steelers Scouting Department as well as Vice President of the team. In 1987 Art continued as Vice President and continues to be a current owner. Currently Mr. Rooney is a recently retired Pittsburgh Steelers Vice President and remains on the Steelers Board of Directors. Mr. Rooney is married (Kathleen) and has four children and six grandchildren. The Rooney family resides in Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania, Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, and Palm Beach, Florida. Art Rooney, Jr. is Emeritus Trustee at Seton Hill College and DePaul School for Hearing and Speech. He is a past member of the North Catholic High School Board of Advisors and past director of the United States Trotting Association. Art Jr. was hired as the Pittsburgh Steelers Personnel Director in 1965. Under Art Jr.’s lead, the team drafted 9 Hall of Fame players in addition to adding 11 more from 1969 – 1974 who would earn four Super Bowl Rings with the Steelers. Source: https://www.steelers.com/history/bios/rooney_art-jr Art Jr. was instrumental in the Steelers’ hiring of recent HOF inductee Bill Nunn Art’s Other Accomplishments: (10-Time NFL HOF Nominee)
Players Scouted and Drafted under Art Jr.’s Direction:
1974 Draft Notes:
1974 Draftees accolades from AJR Jr.:
Other notable accolades on Steelers drafts:
Final Notations:
Supporting links: All Pro / Pro Bowl chart: www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/pit/all-pros.htm You can extract players who have been procured under Art Jr.’s Player Personnel Department’s tenure with the above excel sheet chart. Two lines for Art Jr. showing total team tenure (60 seasons) and also Steelers Player Personnel department head (21 seasons). There is a sizable amount of pro players that fall under this category according to Pro Football Reference and NFL Media Guides. AJR Jr. noted that Gil Brandt built his Dallas team by obtaining players outside the draft, whereas AJR Jr. won the Super Bowl against Gil (Dallas) with 100% home grown players built solely from the draft. All Time Steelers Draft Pick list: www.steelers.com/draft/all-time-picks Art Jr. changed the way the Steelers were utilizing the draft. If you look at the early years thru the mid 1960’s, a lot of draft slots were traded away. Art Jr. studied and started to convince and persuade his father Art Rooney, Sr., how to run the draft, the Super Bowl teams only then started to form. Once Chuck Noll came on board as head coach, he and Art Jr. worked together to build the team through the draft. You can see the trend where Art Jr. started to build the team through the draft. Prior to the mid 60’s, the team was trading away draft picks like nothing. (You can read that in Art Jr.’s book Ruanaidh, chapter 47). The team building really started in 1969 with Draft Picks such as Joe Greene (DT), John Kolb (C) and L.C. Greenwood (DE). By 1970, Terry Bradshaw (QB) was a fight for AJR Jr. to persuade the patriarch Art Rooney Sr. to override Noll to take Bradshaw. Mel Blount was another HOF from that year. 1971 was another good year with Jack Ham (LB) HOF, and other starters such as Dwight White (DE), Larry Brown(TE) and Mike Wagner (DB). 1972 AJR Jr. added Franco Harris (RB) HOF and AJR Jr. fought with Noll on this too. A few more starters were added in 1973. And 1974, the greatest draft in all NFL history (Said George Halas to AJR Jr. and his wife Kay at the league meetings at the Arizona Biltmore), drafting Lynn Swann WR HOF, Jack Lambert LB HOF, John Stallworth WR HOF and Mike Webster C HOF - Four HOF inductees. Plus Donnie Shell DB HOF as a undrafted free agent inducted two years ago. Outside book excerpts: This is an excerpt from the book: “Rooney: A Sporting Life”. Quote from “The Times’ Dave Anderson” Like his father, he deflected credit. But, Sam Bechtel noted, "Art Rooney Jr., perhaps the least known member of his family, has had just as much, if not more, to do with the rise of the Steelers as has anyone." The Times' Dave Anderson wrote that his 1971 draft list of Ham, White, Holmes, Wagner, and three other starters should be bronzed. "Some teams don't draft seven starters of that quality in seven years. The Steelers did it in one." Although it was not yet apparent, Art Jr. had surpassed himself in 1974, crafting the best draft in NFL history.Other excerpts that were sent would be to read Chapter 74 in AJR’ Jr.’s book, “RUANAIDH, The Story of Art Rooney and His Clan” Related Articles
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