{"id":10860,"date":"2017-04-13T22:05:00","date_gmt":"2017-04-13T22:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/2017\/04\/13\/steelers-chairman-dan-rooney-one-of-the-finest-men-in-nfl-history-dies-at-84\/"},"modified":"2017-04-13T22:05:00","modified_gmt":"2017-04-13T22:05:00","slug":"steelers-chairman-dan-rooney-one-of-the-finest-men-in-nfl-history-dies-at-84","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/steelers-chairman-dan-rooney-one-of-the-finest-men-in-nfl-history-dies-at-84\/","title":{"rendered":"Steelers Chairman Dan Rooney, 'One Of The Finest Men' In NFL History, Dies At 84"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Colin Dwyer<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

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\n Steelers owner Dan Rooney lofts the Vince Lombardi Trophy after Pittsburgh beat the Seattle Seahawks to win Super Bowl XL in 2006.<\/p>\n

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Jeff Haynes\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

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Jeff Haynes\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

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Dan Rooney, who steered the Pittsburgh Steelers for decades and helped spearhead the NFL’s efforts at diverse hiring, has died at the age of 84. The team announced his death<\/a> Thursday.<\/p>\n

“Few men have contributed as much to the National Football League as Dan Rooney,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement<\/a>. “A member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, he was one of the finest men in the history of our game and it was a privilege to work alongside him for so many years.”<\/p>\n

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A look back at the life of Dan Rooney. pic.twitter.com\/eEOJweoxYX<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 NFL (@NFL) April 13, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

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For decades Rooney took the team his father founded and guided it to the very heights of the NFL, winning a league-best<\/a> six Super Bowls. The Steelers most recently won it all in 2009<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But, just as the Steelers were not born a powerhouse, Rooney himself didn’t begin his career with the team at the top of the franchise.<\/p>\n

“My father [Art] would take me to the training camp \u2014 and I went to the training camp before I was 5 years old,” Rooney once recalled. “And he was not a doting father, that he was going to watch me. He would let the players take care of me.”<\/p>\n