Former VP Joe Biden remembers Steelers Chairman Dan Rooney as humble, generous
The Rooney family stepped into former Vice President Joe Biden's life in a big way in December 1972, after his wife and daughter were killed and his two sons were critically injured in a vehicle accident.
Biden left the Delaware hospital that was caring for his boys to purchase a Christmas tree for their room. When he returned, they were clutching footballs signed by Steelers players and smiling broadly. Steelers owner, the late Art Rooney Sr., sent former players Rocky Bleier and Franco Harris unannounced to the hospital.
“They just showed up,” Biden said. “Flew into the Wilmington airport, came to the hospital, spent about an hour with my boys, cheered them up, gave them these footballs and got back in a plane and took off. No publicity. That's all they did, but they did everything. It was the first glimmer of hope that I had. The fact is that from that moment on, we have understood... the Rooney family. That's where Dan came from.”
Biden was keynote speaker Friday in a daylong symposium at Duquesne University honoring late Steelers Chairman Dan Rooney, who died in 2017.
He was joined by Rooney family members, former players and coaches, dignitaries and historians outlining Rooney's life as a native Pittsburgher, team owner, ambassador to Ireland and advocate for diversity.
The event featured panel discussions and Rooney memorabilia, including photographs, books and a proclamation signed by Queen Elizabeth II.
The cast included Pittsburgh native Michael V. Hayden, former director of the CIA and National Security Agency; former Steelers coach Bill Cowher and current coach Mike Tomlin; and former players Charlie Batch, Mike Wagner and Harris.
Rooney's widow, Patricia Rooney, met Biden onstage and thanked him and the other speakers for honoring her husband.
“The lectures and panels were fabulous,” she said. “My husband, I think, a lot of the wonderful things that are said about him he learned here at Duquesne University.”
Rooney was a Duquesne graduate.
Biden said his life paralleled Rooney's. Both grew up in working-class cities and both advocated for diversity and the betterment of Ireland, he said. Rooney was a founder of the Ireland Funds established in 1976 as a global philanthropy to support peace, culture, education and community development in that country.
Rooney served as U.S. ambassador to Ireland from 2009 to 2012 under Biden and President Obama.
“He'd always look you in the eye, shake your hand and he'd say thank you,” Biden said. “It didn't matter whether you were his star quarterback or one of his fellow North Siders passing on the street. This is a guy who stood in line to get his own hot dog at halftime even though he owned the whole damn team.”
Bob Bauder is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 412-765-2312, bbauder@tribweb.com or via Twitter @bobbauder.
