Thank you, Mr. Dan

Art Rooney created the Pittsburgh Steelers. That's common knowledge for anybody who lives in this city that does not want people to laugh at them. We remember "The Chief" as the old man who smoked giant cigars, and as a genuinely kind person who gave his heart and soul for our city. It should also be common knowledge to yinzers that the Steelers were quite rubbish for their first 40 years of existence, and that their glowing reputation did not happen genetically. What a lot of fans might not know or at least don't think about as much as they should, however, is that it was not Art Rooney who made the Steelers a powerhouse, but rather his son, Dan.

Dan Rooney passed away at the age of 84 on Thursday, April 13. With the loss of Rooney, the Steelers lost not only an icon, but also the man who created the franchise as we know it.

For all of the good that Arthur J. Rooney did for this city, from an on-field standpoint, he was not a good owner. He hired lousy coaches. His draft picks did not work out, and he did not have a real scouting system, and that contributed in large part to why the Steelers posted just eight winning seasons between 1933-1971. All of this started to change in 1969, when Art's first born son, Dan, took charge of day-to-day football operations.

In 1969, things started to happen. In 1969, Chuck Noll took over as head coach. In 1969, the Steelers still went 1-13. So, how did things improve? Well, a lot of it had to do with how Dan Rooney ran what was now, essentially, his team.

Family run sports franchises don't always work out after the father passes it down to the son. The Steinbrenner's ownership of the Yankees and the Brown's ownership of the Bungals are evidence of this. So when Art passed the team down to Dan, it could have easily led to 35 more years of pain. But, with all due respect to Arthur J. Rooney, Dan did not repeat his father's mistakes.

Instead of hiring coaches based on one man's glowing recommendation like his father had with Bill Austin, who preceded Noll as head coach, Dan did a thorough evaluation when he hired Chuck Noll. Instead of drafting players based on recommendations, Rooney worked together with his coaches and scouts, and also hired his secret weapon, in what is one of the smartest moves he ever made football wise, this being the hiring of Bill Nunn.

Nunn is one of the most valuable unsung heroes in Steelers history. It was through Nunn's scouting of historically black schools that the Steelers were able to land gems such as John Stallworth, Mel Blount and Donnie Shell, three players who played huge roles on those Super Bowl teams. Without Rooney's eye for scouts and the importance of them, none of Bill Nunn's deeds would have transpired in the steel city, and who knows what the domino effect of that might have led too? Thankfully, Nunn was able to contribute, and it resulted in four Super Bowl wins in six years.

Above all else, however, is that, from the accounts of those who knew him, Dan Rooney was a great man. Rooney, like his father, and his son, Art II, who currently keeps the show going, was a wealthy man who did not act like one. I never had the pleasure of meeting the legend, but from most accounts, Rooney was humble, caring and still had that aura about him despite being soft-spoken. Despite his seemingly mellow personality, Rooney wanted to win. I mean, he really wanted to win. His brother, also named Art, learned this the hard way in 1987 when Dan made the decision to fire him as head of the scouting department. Winning meant so much to Dan Rooney that he did not care who a person was. If he was not meeting the expectations of his job, he was out. That, to me, is something to be respected.

Not only did Rooney make a huge impact on his franchise, but he also was a big player for the National Football League as a whole. One thing that will forever be a part of Rooney's legacy is the "Rooney Rule."  While some may not approve of the rule, it must be said that it has made an impact league-wide, and shows that Dan Rooney cared about the game and not just himself and his team. Speaking of caring, that is something that Dan Rooney did as well as anybody else.

I think a lot of sports fans have a particular image of owners. They see an average sports owner as a rich, old man who doesn't pay attention to life so long as he is making money. Regardless of how real this image generally is, Dan Rooney was far from a prototype of it. Just like his father, Rooney was a man who would do anything for his coaches, players, and organization, and that, to me, sums up his legacy more than six rings ever could.

As I prepared to write this piece, I thought about providing links of accounts from people who knew Rooney, but if you live in this city, I think you can agree that it would not have been necessary. Even those of us who are not Steeler die-hards probably are aware of what this family has meant to the city of Pittsburgh over the past 83 years, and that sums up a lot of why the Rooney's are so unique among sports owners.

Yes, Art Rooney founded the Steelers in 1933. But the Steelers that we know today, the six-time Super Bowl Champs, the most popular franchise maybe in North American sports, were created by the son. Rest easy, Mr. Dan.