Profile of the Rooneys
A top draft pick in 2002, Steelers offensive guard Kendall Simmons reached the low point of his football career just two years later.
Simmons sat out the 2004 season with a torn knee ligament while continuing his treatments for diabetes, a disease marked by excess sugar in the blood. He worried his career could be cut short until a few casual chats with Steelers chairman Dan Rooney put his fears on hold.
"People in his family have diabetes, so he knew what I was going through, and he talked to me about it," Simmons said. "On other teams, when they find out you have it, it's like you have a handicap and you become a liability. They don't even give you a chance."
Rooney's direct involvement with his players and coaching staff is one reason he'll oversee his sixth Super Bowl and first in 10 seasons when the Steelers (14-5) play the Seattle Seahawks (15-3) Feb. 5 at Detroit's Ford Field.
Simmons doesn't know if he'd be preparing to start in his first league championship game without Rooney's support.
"Every time he sees me, he asks me how I'm doing," Simmons said. "He tells me to take care of myself because he knows what I'm going through. That makes you feel a lot better right there."
Rooney, 73, has been involved with the family franchise for 59 years - the longest run of anyone still active in the National Football League.
He still walks around the practice field and chats with players about their families almost every day, all without meddling in coach Bill Cowher's day-to-day operations.
It's a hands-on style of ownership that comes with a personal touch, assistant coach Dick Hoak said.
"With some (NFL) organizations, it's strictly business," Hoak said. "Here, I think the owners really care about the people who work for them."
Hoak has been with the Steelers for 45 years, including 10 seasons as a running back starting in 1961. He is the only Steelers coach or player who has witnessed the transition from founder Art Rooney to the present.
Dan Rooney was named Steelers president in 1975 and became chairman two years ago. He named his oldest son, Art Rooney II, team president in 2003, turning over control of the business operations for a franchise that Forbes Magazine estimated was worth $717 million as of last January.
"Dan is a lot like his dad was, and now Art II is a lot like his dad, Dan," Hoak said. "They're close to the players, and they care about the players and the people who work for them."
Dan Rooney often visits the locker room after a tough loss. He usually has a few encouraging words for the running back who fumbled or the defensive back who gave up a touchdown.
"It starts with treating people right, and being concerned for the players as people," Dan Rooney said Friday while watching the team practice at its South Side facility. "I think that's what we've always done. That's an important part of it.
"And we try to follow through if there is something we can do for someone."
Simmons said Dan and Art II maintain an open-door policy with their players.
"You know if you have any problems and want to talk or whatever, they're going to be there," Simmons said. "That makes it so much easier to come to work every day.
"It's kind of like a family atmosphere," he said. "The Rooneys try their best to take care of the guys and make it where everybody's comfortable. It makes the whole thing run a lot smoother. You want to play harder for them because they believe in you."
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Besides the four Lombardi Trophies at the entrance to the Steelers offices, one of the first things wide receiver Hines Ward noticed about the Steelers is they aren't big on change.
"They're a family-owned business, and they don't like to mess with the traditions of the team," Ward said. "When you have a good nucleus and stability at the owner's position, it just trickles down to the rest of the organization."
The Steelers are the only NFL team that displays the team emblem on only one side of the helmet, the right side. Don't expect that to change any decade soon.
Recognizing the virtues of patience, Dan Rooney has hired only two coaches in the past 36 seasons, Chuck Noll from 1969 through 1991 and Bill Cowher from 1992 to the present. The New Orleans Saints have hired 14 head coaches during that span.
"We have a coach who's been here 14 years, and that says something right there about how the team operates," Ward said.
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Hoak said every team goes through highs and lows, but the Steelers don't panic and change philosophy when adversity arrives.
The Rooneys stuck with Cowher after three straight losses in AFC finals and a 6-10 record in 2003.
"Nothing drives me more than hopefully being able to hand him that fifth (Super Bowl) trophy," Cowher said.
Hoak said stability in the front office can be an advantage on the field. He recalled how former defensive line coach George Perles viewed the rest of the NFL compared to the Steelers in the late 1970s.
"George would say every year, 'Well, we know 18 (NFL teams) don't have a chance,' and that's because their front offices were so messed up," Hoak said. "When you have good ownership, it filters all the way down. But if all that up there is bad, you don't have a chance in this league. This thing is tough enough even when you have good leadership."
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Hoak said "The Chief," was the ultimate people person, and Art Rooney's personal touch was passed down. He founded the team in 1933, was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1964 and died at the age of 87 in 1988 after suffering a stroke.
Hoak said he always looked forward to lunchtime at Three Rivers Stadium when "The Chief" walked the halls, chomping on cigars.
"I would go down by the kitchen to eat lunch with the other coaches every day hoping he'd be there, just to listen to some of the stories he would tell about the old days and what happened way back when," Hoak said. "I'll always remember that."
Steelers timeline
1901 - Arthur J. Rooney is born in Coultersville to a family made up of coal miners on his mother's side and steel workers on his father's.
1932 - After growing up over a saloon on the site where Three Rivers Stadium once stood, Rooney purchases a pro football franchise for $2,500.
1941 - Rooney changes the name of his pro football team from the Pirates to the Steelers to avoid getting it confused with the baseball team.
1969 - Steelers president Dan Rooney hires Chuck Noll to rebuild the struggling franchise. Noll drafts Joe Greene from North Texas State with his first pick and makes the defensive tackle the cornerstone of his team.
1970 - After losing all but one game in Noll's first season, the Steelers win the coin flip with Chicago and select quarterback Terry Bradshaw with the first overall pick.
1975 - The Steelers end 40 frustrating seasons without a title by winning Super Bowl IX over the Minnesota Vikings.
1980 - Steelers win Super Bowl XIV over the Los Angeles Rams in Pasadena's Rose Bowl, their last of four Super Bowl championships.
1992 - Steelers hire Crafton native Bill Cowher to replace Noll.
1996 - Steelers lose to the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl XXX in Tempe, Ariz., but vow to return.
2003 - Art Rooney II succeeds Dan Rooney as team president.
2006 - Steelers return to the Super Bowl after losing three AFC title games since their last trip to the league championship game.
