Arthur (Art) Joseph Rooney Sr (Also known as "The Chief" (January 27, 1901–August 25, 1988) was the American founding owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers franchise in the National Football League.
The son of Irish Catholic immigrants from Newry in County Down, Ireland. Rooney was a lifelong resident of the Pittsburgh area having been born in Coulterville, Pennsylvania and raised on the North Side of Pittsburgh. He graduated from Duquesne Prep (later...
more
Arthur (Art) Joseph Rooney Sr (Also known as "The Chief" (January 27, 1901–August 25, 1988) was the American founding owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers franchise in the National Football League.
The son of Irish Catholic immigrants from Newry in County Down, Ireland. Rooney was a lifelong resident of the Pittsburgh area having been born in Coulterville, Pennsylvania and raised on the North Side of Pittsburgh. He graduated from Duquesne Prep (later Duquesne High School, which closed in 2007). In keeping with his Catholic background, he then went on to Duquesne University. Since then, many members of the Rooney family have graduated from Duquesne and have made many endowments to the university.
His affiliation with the NFL began in 1933 after he traveled to Saratoga Race Course in New York and won at least $2,500 in a parlay of longshot winners. He soon used that $2,500 to pay the required National Football League franchise entrance fee for a club based in the city of Pittsburgh, which...
less
