First off, what’s a day in the life look like for you today – what are you up to now and how involved if at all are you with the team?
I still have stock in the team and am on the board. But it’s their team now. Dan and his son and grandson all work for the team now. I pay attention and listen on the board and answer questions when I can – but I won’t make shit up if I don’t have an answer.
On October 18th I’ll turn 90 years old. I never wanted my name on the scoreboard – but this year I want it! I want it to say “Happy 90th Birthday Art Rooney Jr.!” I’ve had a good run – I have good DNA like my mom and dad did!
How surreal is it for you to look back and think about the legacy/team and its impact on the city and culture and how instrumental you were in that?
You know, Chuck Noll had his say on the draft. Years went by while I was with Chuck and the team. I had some ideas on who to draft and he would listen to them, but he would pick. Well, one day it’s late in the draft and it’s out turn to pick. Chuck doesn’t show up. He finally calls and tells us “I’m involved in something – let Art make the pick!” That was a phenomenal moment for me. That was the first time in five years he let someone else make the pick. That was a big moment for me. I wish I remembered who it was I picked – I don’t even remember if they made the team!
We are Northsiders – those are special guys. We were broke and taught by Mercy nuns. Dad was a tremendous Catholic and his brother Dan was a Franciscan priest – those were real tough guys. He told us he had more knockouts than Bill Conn!
When we were young my dad had a special chair he would do his rosaries in. He wold assign each of his kids a Catholic mystery and if you screwed it up he’d give you holy hell. Once my uncle Dan came to visit. We were all fighting over who would do the rosary and I was beating up my brothers when Dan walked in. He asked what all the noise was and I told him we were doing our rosaries. He said “Yeah, right. More like rotary!”
You started off with the team in the ticket office. Was that you dad’s idea of having you start from the bottom up to learn the franchise?
All of us started off in jobs like that. I was terrified I’d fuck it up! My brother Tim started in the ticket office too. My dad wanted to make sure we didn’t act like big shots because of our name – that was important to him.
We had to learn to be firm but not out of line with ticket holders and people who wanted to buy season tickets. It was a stepping stone for us to learn our place in the organization and to not act like big shots. And to learn how to be firm but not over the top.
As personnel director, how did you turn the culture around from a team that liked to trade players to a team that valued its picks more highly and – and did that stem originally from Noll or was that something you had in the works already?
Buddy Parker was a great coach – he won two world championships with Detroit. He should be in the Hall of Fame for that. He was a Texan and had good and bad points. He had a problem with drinking – I won’t get too much into that. I remember once he got really upset – I think it was after the JFK assassination. He wanted the game to be canceled that week. But we had coal miners and steel workers coming to the games – they were going to come to the stadium no matter what.
Buddy was afraid someone was going to sneak a pistol or shotgun under their coat to the game. He said he was the only Texan there and they would shoot him first! Dad ended up calming him down finally. Buddy had a brilliance to him but booze was just a part of his issues. He was an emotional guy. We weren’t good friends but he did get some respect from me.
How did the Steelers approach the draft process then?
I had my toe in it but it was primarily dad and Chuck. We had close ties with the Maras – we were small market teams so we needed to draft well.
My dad was in Saratoga and was doing really well betting – he broke the book. Mr. Mara was there and my dad told him he was going to stick around in Saratoga – that he was doing well. Mr Mara and my dad were good friends – both Irish Catholics. Mr. Mara told my dad that if he stuck around he’d lose it all. That he had just bought the football team so go and put the money back into the team. That’s what my dad did. My mom was on her way to get him at the time – they had a bunch of baby boys and a lot of shitty diapers in the back of that car!
Back to your question – I went to the East-West All Star Game and Buddy Parker sent Jack Butler with me. Jack was injured and could barely run – this was Buddy’s way of keeping Jack off the field. We went to scout the West coast teams – Dallas, the Rams and San Francisco. We learned in talking to their scouts that they had created the “Troika”. It was a scouting group between the three teams – they were sharing scouting notes and resources.
When I got back I wrote a paper on that – I was a very good writer. I discussed the Troika and gave the paper to Buddy, my dad and Dan. Dan saw this and said “We should do this.”
Buddy had contacts in Detroit still and we talked with other teams we were close with and from BLESTO – we worked with the Bears, Lions and Eagles. It was originally LESTO – the Bears jumped on a bit later.
We all met in Palm Beach to discuss it. Dan had an academic he wanted to run it, but I recommended Jack Butler. They liked that idea more, but I think Dan was pissed at me for that – he wanted his guy. I met his guy years later – a real nice guy. But Jack couldn’t play anymore but understood the game.