Dan Rooney

"I told Mr. Rooney since he was back from Ireland and it was his only game, I wanted him to watch as much football as he could," Roethlisberger said. "So that's why we let it go to overtime. "It's fun to win that way."

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"He had other avenues he could have followed, but I still think his heart was geared to this," said Mr. Nunn, who has known the young Rooney since he was a 13-year-old ball boy at training camp. "He would never say it, but he loves this role he is in right now. In some ways, he's going through some of the same things that Dan had to go through with the Chief."

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"Mr. Rooney" -- that his eldest son, Art II, took on the characteristics of a young Dan Rooney. "Dan was very, very, very different from my dad," Art Rooney Jr. said.

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"Mr. Rooney's such a big personality who's really encouraging to everybody," safety Troy Polamalu said. "For him to not give us a speech, that was different."

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"We're sending you one of our very best," Clinton said in a message to the people of Ireland. Rooney, 76, who traces his roots to the Northern Ireland border town of Newry, thanked Clinton and former President Bill Clinton for their efforts to promote peace in Ireland. "When the phone rang," they answered, Rooney said. "The people of Ireland saw they cared. "

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"I was ... I really was." He received national acclaim for his role as mediator in settling the 1982 NFL players' strike. "Paul got along with [NFLPA executive director] Ed Garvey and he got along with me," Mr. Rooney said last month. "There were times both sides were ready to throw in the towel, but Paul kept us going."

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Rooney explained, "We did tell Russ nothing would be final until Sunday". I feel bad if he got the wrong impression."

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Steelers President Dan Rooney once said of Greg Lloyd, "He was one of the Best, not just one of the Steelers' best but one of the best in the league.

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"I don't view it as a dramatic change," Mr. Rooney said.

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"But, I don't know why, I always felt in the back of my mind it was going to work out," Mr. Rooney said.

Read more: Art II now flying solo as Steelers begin quest for No. 7 | In this article: Steelers, Heinz Field, U.S. senator, National Football League, Robert Casey, Duquesne University, Art Rooney, and James Carville