Steelers owner visits Pitt to endorse book on life with NFL

As people approached Steelers owner Dan Rooney at Pitt’s bookstore yesterday, the smiles on… As people approached Steelers owner Dan Rooney at Pitt’s bookstore yesterday, the smiles on their faces were both shy and excited as they met the man who, some said, “made Pittsburgh great.”

Rooney, who was sitting next to a pile of signed copies of his new book, “Dan Rooney: My 75 years with the Pittsburgh Steelers and the NFL,” greeted everyone warmly with a handshake and reminisced with them about great moments in Steelers football.

He also reassured them that for the next game, the field would be in better shape.

Rooney said he thinks the sales are doing well and that people seem to like the book.

“I think the book is interesting,” he said. “What we really wanted to do is put out a history. There’s a lot of stories that are not in here that could have been. We couldn’t get the pages.

“I think it’s great to be here [at Pitt],” he said. “We used to play here and they’re our partners now at Heinz Field.”

One mother told Rooney that a photograph taken of Terry Bradshaw hangs over her son’s crib, and she herself was born the week after the Immaculate Reception in 1972.

Another woman stepped up to Rooney and said proudly, “I’ve been a season ticket holder since 1992.”

She showed him her nails, which had Steelers decals on them.

“Very sharp,” Rooney commented.

A nun also attended the signing and spoke with Rooney for a few minutes before happily leaving with a book in her hand.

Rooney handed Russell Kierzkowski, the bookstore employee who orchestrated the event, a wad of cash.

When Kierzkowski protested, Rooney insisted.

“Take it,” he said. “I gave that nun a book.”

Pitt students also filtered in to see the legend.

One breathlessly rushed up to Rooney, shook his hand, and left saying: “I have class in one minute!”

Rooney chuckled. “At least he’s going,” he said.

Other patrons were buying books as Christmas gifts, including Brandi Sinclair, who works in Pitt’s department of communications and also takes classes.

“Mainly my brothers are really into Dan Rooney,” she said. “I wanted to come and get books from him and have them signed as Christmas presents.”

One freshman was also searching for the perfect gift.

“My dad’s a big Steelers fan so I came to get the book for him,” Jake Galbraith said. “Having it signed will mean more to him.”

Galbraith said he’s also a fan.

“Dan Rooney’s a big Pittsburgh symbol so it was good to meet him.”

But Kierzkowski made it all come together.

“I appealed to the Pitt publishers, and I did a proposal,” he said. “In the proposal I mentioned the affiliation between Pitt and the Steelers, our affiliation sharing facilities and our affiliation as citizens of the city.

“In any event in the beginning the publisher was lining up the chain stores, they really didn’t think that the Pitt bookstore could bring in an audience. I assured them of, number one, that the University of Pittsburgh is the largest employer in Pittsburgh and, number two, of our affiliation with the Steelers.”

Dan Rooney’s wife Pat and daughter Rita also attended the signing.

“It’s nice to be here at the Pitt bookstore,” Pat Rooney said. She was especially impressed that the chancellor stopped in.

“He’s such a busy man,” she said.

Kierzkowski said he was very pleased with the turnout.

“It was tremendous,” he said. “We probably have right now 100 copies in reserve for people who couldn’t make it. We also probably have more coming in that they have agreed to sign too if we can get them here on time for people who still want copies for Christmas.

“They’re happy, we’re happy, the publisher’s happy, and as you can see everybody who came in was delighted.”