January 4, 1976: George Blanda: The NFL's Oldest Player

January 4, 1976, 50 years ago: The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Oakland Raiders, 16-10 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, in the AFC Championship Game. The Raiders' George Blanda attempted an extra point, and made it; and attempted 2 field goals, making 1.

Two weeks earlier, in the Raiders' last regular-season game, a win over the Kansas City Chiefs at the Oakland Coliseum, Blanda threw 3 passes in relief of starting quarterback Ken Stabler, completing 1, for 11 yards.

The fact that Blanda was playing at all, never mind completed a pass, was extraordinary. He was 48 years old.

George Frederick Blanda was born on September 17, 1927 in Youngwood, Pennsylvania, outside Pittsburgh. He played at the University of Kentucky, the 1st renowned quarterback to play for future Alabama icon Bear Bryant, and was drafted by the Chicago Bears in 1949. In 1950, he succeeded Hall-of-Famer Sid Luckman as the Bears' starting quarterback, and remained in that spot through the 1958 season.

He was not particularly notable in the position. In 1953, he led the NFL in both attempts and completions. In 1954, he led in passing yards per game. In 1955, he led in field goal percentage. In 1956, he got the Bears to the NFL Western Division title, but they got clobbered by the New York Giants in the NFL Championship Game. He retired after the 1958 season, and he seemed destined to be a footnote in the history of professional football.

But the founding of the American Football League in 1960 changed a lot of things. He was coaxed out of retirement to become the quarterback for the Houston Oilers, and he led them to the AFL Championship in 1960 and 1961, and got them back into the AFL Championship Game in 1962. He was named AFL Player of the Year in 1961, a season that included his longest field goal: 55 yards.

In 1967, at the age of 40, he was traded to the Oakland Raiders, where he became the backup to Daryle Lamonica. The Raiders won the AFL Championship that season. He played for the Raiders until 1975, and only started 1 game for them, but he stayed on the roster because he was still one of the most accurate placekickers in the game. In 9 seasons with the Raiders, he attempted 250 extra points, and missed only 3; and he made 62.7 percent of his field goal attempts. Even in his last season, he made 13 out of 21.

Between the NFL and the AFL, he passed for 26,920 yards, which doesn't sound like much now, but was a big total for the time. He threw considerably more interceptions than touchdowns (277 to 238), but that wasn't surprising for a quarterback who debuted in the 1940s. He kicked 335 field goals, for 1,005 points; and kicked 943 extra points. He also ran 9 touchdowns in from the quarterback position, for 54 points. This gave him 2,002 points for his career, making him the NFL's 1st 2,000-point man.

In 2026, 50 years after his last game, he still ranks 7th all-time. The current all-time leader is Adam Vinatieri, with 2,673 points. However, Blanda's 238 touchdown passes means he had a hand in 3,430 points -- and that's before you factor in how many field goals his teams scored as a result of the drives he led. For the sake of perspective: Tom Brady has passed for 649 touchdowns, which accounts for 3,894 points.

Blanda still ranks 5th all-time with 340 games played. (Morten Andersen leads with 382.) His 335 field goals has long since been surpassed. (Vinatieri leads with 599.) But his 26 seasons, his playing at age 48, and his 943 extra points made are still all-time records. A few players, mostly backup quarterbacks and placekickers (and Blanda was both), have played at 46, but Blanda remains the only one to play at 47, or 48. He and John Carney, who kicked for several teams from 1987 to 2010, are the only men to have played in the NFL in 4 different decades.

On January 20, 1976, 16 days after Blanda's last game, the ABC sitcom Happy Days, which took advantage of the 1950s nostalgia wave, aired an episode with Richie Cunningham (played by Ron Howard) and Ralph Malph (Donny Most) watching a game on television. It was December 9, 1956, and the Chicago Bears were playing the Chicago Cardinals at Wrigley Field.

Ed Brown, playing quarterback for the Bears, threw an interception. Richie said he wanted the other quarterback put in. Ralph said, "He's washed up. He's old. He's 30. He's got no future." Richie said, "George Blanda has 2 or 3 good years left." The Bears won the game, 10-3.

Blanda was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1981, his 1st year of eligibility. He was retroactively named to the AFL All-Time Team. He died on September 27, 2010, a few days after his 83rd birthday.

*

January 4, 1976 was a Sunday. Also that day, the NFC Championship Game was played, and the Dallas Cowboys beat the Los Angeles Rams, 37-7 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The Steelers went on to beat the Cowboys in Super Bowl X. 

December 27, 1975: The Pittsburgh Steelers Introduce the Terrible Towel

December 27, 1975, 50 years ago: The Pittsburgh Steelers, the defending NFL Champions, host the Baltimore Colts in an AFC Divisional Playoff at Three Rivers Stadium. In the stands, fans wave yellow dish towels, which became known as "The Terrible Towel."

At the time, the flagship of the Steelers' radio network was WTAE, 1250 on the AM dial. Two weeks before this game, Ted Atkins, the station's general manager, and Larry Garrett, the station's president of sales, went to Myron Cope, the Steelers' main broadcaster, who also had a sports-talk show on the station. They suggested that a "gimmick" -- an unusual device or idea that seems to have little value, but would attract an increased amount of attention -- which would attract sponsors to Cope's show.

Cope, a Pittsburgh native born Myron Sidney Kopelman, was then 46 years old, and had already won awards for writing for Sports Illustrated. He began his talk show on WTAE in 1968, and became the Steelers' main announcer when Three Rivers opened in 1970. At first, he didn't want to do a gimmick, saying, "I'm not a gimmick guy."

It wasn't true: Like other broadcasters in town, including the Pirates' Bob Prince and the Penguins' Mike Lange, he was known for catchphrases. Being Jewish, something good made him yell the Yiddish word, "Yoi!" Sometimes it would be good enough to be a "Double Yoi!" which became the title of his memoir. If something bad happened, he would use the Yiddish word, "Feh!" Instead of, "Okey dokey," he would say, "Okel dokel."

He gave some Steelers nicknames: Hard-hitting linebacker Jack Lambert was "Jack Splat." In the next generation of Steeler players, the big fullback Jerome Bettis became "The Bus," and Kordell Stewart -- said to be a quarterback/running back/receiver -- became "Slash." And he mocked opposing teams: The Cleveland Browns were the Brownies, the Cincinnati Bengals were the Bungles, the Dallas Cowboys were the Cryboys, and so on.

So he wasn't being fully honest when he said, "I'm not a gimmick guy." But Garrett told him that, if the gimmick worked, it would be good leverage when his contract came up for renewal. Hearing, this, Cope said, "I'm a gimmick guy!"

Pictured: A gimmick guy

So Cope, Atkins and Garrett started thinking about what kind of gimmick. Cope said it should be something "lightweight and portable, and already owned by just about every fan." Garrett thought of a small towel. Cope gave it the alliterative name, "The Terrible Towel." It would be in Steeler colors: While black with gold lettering was experimented with, it was correctly decided that gold with black lettering would show up better.

Garrett was enthusiastic. Atkins was not: He thought that, if the Steelers lost the game, the Towel would be seen as the reason why, a jinx. So Cope asked the players what they thought. Linebacker Jack Ham said, "I think your idea stinks." Older linebacker Andy Russell, paralleling what Cope had already said, said, "We're not a gimmick team. We've never been a gimmick team."

But that wasn't true, either. Three years earlier, a group of employees at an Italian restaurant in Pittsburgh quickly took to Franco Harris, the team's half-black, half-Italian rookie running back, wearing Army-style helmets, and sitting behind a banner reading, "FRANCO'S ITALIAN ARMY." Similar groups copied them. A group of Polish fans honored Ham with "JACK HAM DOBRE SHUNKA FAN CLUB." "Dobre shunka" is Polish for "Good ham." Running back John "Frenchy" Fuqua had Frenchy's Foreign Legion. Lambert had Lambert's Lunatics. Kicker Roy Gerela had Gerela's Gorillas.

Knowing this, Cope went to the most visible player on the team, quarterback Terry Bradshaw, and asked him, "How do you feel about the Terrible Towel?" According to Cope, Bradshaw said, "Huh?" And Cope later said, "I check him off as a 'Yes.'... I reported back to Ted Atkins that the Steelers overwhelmingly approved of the Towel." A little white lie -- or a little black and gold lie.

As the Steelers took the field for their Playoff game against the Colts, the fans whipped out their Towels and waved them around. Cope thought there were 30,000 of them, in a stadium that then seated a little over 50,000.

In the 1st quarter, Ham intercepted a pass from the Colts' Marty Domres. This set up a 34-yard pass from Bradshaw to Frank Lewis, which set up an 8-yard run by Harris, giving the Steelers a 7-0 lead. But the Colts led 10-7 at the half. Early in the 3rd quarter, Mel Blount intercepted a Domres pass, and took it to the Colts' 7-yard line. Rocky Bleier ran it in on the next play, giving the Steelers a lead they would not relinquish.

In the 4th quarter, Colt coach Ted Marchibroda, himself an unsuccessful Steeler quarterback in the 1950s, replaced Domres with Bert Jones. He did no better: He got to the Steelers' 7-yard line, but was hit by Ham, and fumbled. Of all people to pick it up, it was "not-gimmick-guy" Russell, who ran 93 yards, for the longest fumble return in NFL Playoff history at that point. Sports Illustrated called it "the longest, slowest touchdown ever witnessed." It put the cap on a 28-10 Steeler win.

(Russell's record stood until 2023, when Cincinnati Bengals defensive end returned one 98 yards against the Baltimore Ravens. The Bengals won.)

Steeler fan Lisa Benz wrote a poem about the game and the Towels, and sent it to Cope, who read it on the air. It concluded:

He ran ninety-three like a bat out of hell,
And no one could see how he rambled so well.
"It was easy", said Andy, and he flashed a crooked smile:
"I was snapped on the fanny by the Terrible Towel!"

So the gimmick worked. The next week, Gimbel's department stores all over Western Pennsylvania sold out of yellow and gold dish towels. Cope got rich off the idea. In 1996, he gave the rights to The Terrible Towel to the Allegheny Valley School in nearby Coraopolis, which cares for people with intellectual and physical disabilities. Cope's son Danny was autistic, and had attended the school. Proceeds from Towel sales have raised over $6 million for the school.

Having won Super Bowl IX the season before, the Steelers went on to win Super Bowl X. After 2 years of near-misses, they won Super Bowl XIII and Super Bowl XIV. The 2005 season, in which they went on to win Super Bowl XL, was Cope's retirement season. They won Super Bowl XLIII as well. They've also lost Super Bowl XXX and Super Bowl XLV.

*

A standard Terrible Towel, now bearing Cope's name, is 16-by-23-inches. It was the original sports-team gimmick, preceding the Cleveland Indians' "Hate the Yankees Hanky" by nearly 2 years, the Minnesota Twins' "Homer Hanky" by nearly 12 years, and the Atlanta Braves' foam Tomahawk by almost 16 years.

Because of their 1970s success, when they were frequently on television, the Steelers gained lots of fans in big cities whose teams weren't doing well at the time, like New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Chicago. (This is also true of the decade's other successful teams: The Dallas Cowboys, the Miami Dolphins, and the then-Oakland Raiders.) As a result, Steeler fans are everywhere.

And as a result of that, Steeler fans have taken their Towels everywhere: The Vatican in Rome, the Western Wall in Jerusalem, the Great Wall of China, Mount Everest on the China-Nepal border, the South Pole in Antarctica. Soldiers have taken them to war zones, including Lebanon, Iraq, Bosnia, Afghanistan and Ukraine. Pittsburgh-born rapper Wiz Khalifa put one in a video. Pittsburgh-born astronaut Mike Fincke took one to the International Space Station in 2009.

Making it the most "far out" piece of sports memorabilia ever.

Don't tell me Alan Shepard swung a golf club on the Moon:
He did, but golf is not a sport.

Although the Rooney family, owners of the Steelers since their founding in 1933, is Republican, team president Dan Rooney gave a Towel to Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton when she campaigned in the 2008 Pennsylvania Primary. She won it, though she lost the nomination to Barack Obama.

In the general election, Rooney gave Obama one, and Rooney's ticket-splitting support may have made the difference in Obama winning the State. Obama rewarded him by appointing him U.S. Ambassador to Ireland, a post into which he was sworn in by Obama's Secretary of State -- Hillary Clinton. He served for 3 years.

*

But do not mock the Terrible Towel, nor misuse it. There is a Curse of the Terrible Towel. No, I'm not kidding. During player introductions for the Steelers' 1994 Playoff game against the arch-rival Browns, Brentson Buckner came out waving one, and dropped it. The Browns' Earnest Byner stepped on it, saying, "We don't care about your towel! We're going to beat you this time!" They did not, and less than a year later, the original version of the Browns was moved, becoming the Baltimore Ravens.

You would think that opponents would have learned from this, but some didn't. In 2005, T.J. Houshmandzadeh of the Bengals celebrated a touchdown by wiping his feet on one. The Bengals won, but the Steelers went on to beat them in the Playoffs, and the Bengals didn't win another Playoff game for 16 years. They didn't even make the Playoffs again until 4 years later -- after Houshmandzadeh had left the team.

Cope died on February 27, 2008. On September 29, Derrick Mason of the Ravens stepped on a Towel. The Steelers swept their Divisional games against the Ravens, and then beat them in the AFC Championship Game. On October 5, Jacksonville Jaguars mascot Jaxson de Ville celebrated a Jags touchdown against the Steelers by taking a Towel and scratching his armpits with it. The Steelers came from behind to win, and the Jags lost 8 of their last 11 games.

On December 21, the Tennessee Titans beat the Steelers, and LenDale White and Keith Bulluck celebrated by stomping on a Towel, and they ended up as the top seed in the AFC Playoffs, but lost at home to the Ravens, who then lost to the Steelers.

The Titans ended up losing 8 straight games, including their 2009 season opener against the Steelers and a 59-0 loss to the New England Patriots. NFL teams simply don't lose games by 59 points, but the Titans did. Head coach Jeff Fisher publicly apologized for the desecration of the Towel, bought a new one, had his players autograph it, and donated it to the Allegheny Valley School. Did that generous gesture remove the Curse? Apparently: The Titans won their next 5 games.

And to close the 2008 season, as the Arizona Cardinals prepared to play the Steelers in Super Bowl XLIII on February 1, 2009, Mayor Phil Gordon of Phoenix hosted a pep rally at City Hall, invited Cards mascot Big Red to the stage, and handed him a Towel. Big Red proceeded to use the Towel to scratch his armpits and blow his nose (beak). The Steelers won.

After 4 such incidents in 1 season alone, you'd think people would've learned. Alas, in the closing minutes of a 2009 game in Detroit, the Steelers led by 8 points, but the Lions were marching down the field in the hope of a tying touchdown. Lions mascot Roary found a Towel, stepped on it, and ripped it apart with his teeth. Result: 3 straight sacks of Lion quarterback Daunte Culpepper, and a Steeler win. That same season, the Indianapolis Colts tried to pay tribute, issuing blue and white "Terrific Towels." It almost worked: They did reach Super Bowl XLIV, but lost to the New Orleans Saints. I guess the Saints had too much good karma stored up since Hurricane Katrina.

In 2014, Jaxson de Ville struck again. During a game with the Steelers in Jacksonville, he held up a Towel with one hand and a sign reading "Towels Carry Ebola" with the other. Not only did the Steelers win the game, but the Jags lost 13 of their next 17. In 2016, as the Steelers opened the season against the Washington Redskins, Washington punter Tress Way tweeted a video of his mother burning a Terrible Towel in a voodoo cemetery. The Steelers won.

The Jacksonville Jaguars are so dumb! (How dumb are they?) They're so dumb, they are a three-time loser when it comes to messing with the Terrible Towel. On October 29, 2023, they beat the Steelers, 20-10. During the game, several Jacksonville players took fans' Terrible Towels, mockingly waved them around, and dropped them. The team proceeded to finish the season 3-6, which included a loss in their final game against the Tennessee Titans, 28-20. This not only eliminated the Jaguars from playoff contention, but gave the Steelers the final AFC Playoff spot.

Even other sports are not immune to the Curse. On February 7, 2016, the Penguins were visiting the Florida Panthers, and trailed 2-0 with about 6 minutes left in regulation. Florida's mascot, Stanley C. Panther, blew his nose into a Terrible Towel. The Pens tied the game and won it in overtime. So, if you don't want horrible things to happen to you, leave the Terrible Towel alone.

Terrible Towels usually cost $10. I once attended a sports memorabilia show at the Wildwoods Convention Center on the Jersey Shore, and saw them for sale. I bought 2, keeping 1, and sending the other to a friend who's a big Steeler fan.

In 2011, some scenes for the Batman film The Dark Knight Rises were filmed in Pittsburgh. Three Rivers' replacement, then named Heinz Field and now named Acrisure Stadium, stood in for Gotham City's football stadium; and the fictional Gotham Rogues wore black and gold uniforms like the Steelers. Several real-life Steelers appeared, and the fans were given yellow towels with black lettering, labeled as "Rogue Rags."

The character of Bane (played by Tom Hardy) proceeded to destroy the stadium's field, and blow up the owner's luxury box, killing the Mayor (Nestor Carbonell). Granted, this was fiction, and it seemed more like the Rag was a tribute to the Towel rather than a parody, but it's still suspicious.

* 

Do NOT Mess With the Terrible Towel

December 27, 1975: The Pittsburgh Steelers, the defending NFL Champions, host the Baltimore Colts in an AFC Divisional Playoff at Three Rivers Stadium. In the stands, fans wave yellow dish towels, which became known as "The Terrible Towel."

At the time, the flagship of the Steelers' radio network was WTAE, 1250 on the AM dial. Two weeks before this game, Ted Atkins, the station's general manager, and Larry Garrett, the station's president of sales, went to Myron Cope, the Steelers' main broadcaster, who also had a sports-talk show on the station. They suggested that a "gimmick" -- an unusual device or idea that seems to have little value, but would attract an increased amount of attention -- which would attract sponsors to Cope's show.

Cope, a Pittsburgh native born Myron Sidney Kopelman, was then 46 years old, and had already won awards for writing for Sports Illustrated. He began his talk show on WTAE in 1968, and became the Steelers' main announcer when Three Rivers opened in 1970. At first, he didn't want to do a gimmick, saying, "I'm not a gimmick guy."

It wasn't true: Like other broadcasters in town, including the Pirates' Bob Prince and the Penguins' Mike Lange, he was known for catchphrases. Being Jewish, something good made him yell the Yiddish word, "Yoi!" Sometimes it would be good enough to be a "Double Yoi!" which became the title of his memoir. If something bad happened, he would use the Yiddish word, "Feh!" Instead of, "Okey dokey," he would say, "Okel dokel."

He gave some Steelers nicknames: Linebacker Jack Lambert was "Jack Splat." In the next generation of Steeler players, Jerome Bettis became "The Bus," and Kordell Stewart -- said to be a quarterback/running back/receiver -- became "Slash." And he mocked opposing teams: The Cleveland Browns were the Brownies, the Cincinnati Bengals were the Bungles, the Dallas Cowboys were the Cryboys, and so on.

So he wasn't being fully honest when he said, "I'm not a gimmick guy." But Garrett told him that, if the gimmick worked, it would be good leverage when his contract came up for renewal. Hearing, this, Cope said, "I'm a gimmick guy!"

Pictured: A gimmick guy

So Cope, Atkins and Garrett started thinking about what kind of gimmick. Cope said it should be something "lightweight and portable, and already owned by just about every fan." Garrett though of a small towel. Cope gave it the alliterative name, "The Terrible Towel." It would be in Steeler colors: While black with gold lettering was experimented with, it was correctly decided that gold with black lettering would show up better.

Garrett was enthusiastic. Atkins was not: He thought that, if the Steelers lost the game, the Towel would be seen as the reason why, a jinx. So Cope asked the players what they thought. Linebacker Jack Ham said, "I think your idea stinks." Older linebacker Andy Russell, paralleling what Cope had already said, said, "We're not a gimmick team. We've never been a gimmick team."

But that wasn't true, either. Three years earlier, a group of employees at an Italian restaurant in Pittsburgh quickly took to Franco Harris, the team's half-black, half-Italian rookie running back, wearing Army-style helmets, and sitting behind a banner reading, "FRANCO'S ITALIAN ARMY." Similar groups copied them. A group of Polish fans honored Ham with "JACK HAM DOBRE SHUNKA FAN CLUB." "Dobre shunka" is Polish for "Good ham." Running back John "Frenchy" Fuqua had Frenchy's Foreign Legion. Lambert had Lambert's Lunatics. Kicker Roy Gerela had Gerela's Gorillas.

Knowing this, Cope went to the most visible player on the team, quarterback Terry Bradshaw, and asked him, "How do you feel about the Terrible Towel?" According to Cope, Bradshaw said, "Huh?" And Cope later said, "I check him off as a 'Yes.'... I reported back to Ted Atkins that the Steelers overwhelmingly approved of the Towel." A little white lie -- or a little black and gold lie.

As the Steelers took the field for their Playoff game against the Colts, the fans whipped out their Towels and waved them around. Cope thought there were 30,000 of them, in a stadium that then seated a little over 50,000.

In the 1st quarter, Ham intercepted a pass from the Colts' Marty Domres. This set up a 34-yard pass from Bradshaw to Frank Lewis, which set up an 8-yard run by Harris, giving the Steelers a 7-0 lead. But the Colts led 10-7 at the half. Early in the 3rd quarter, Mel Blount intercepted a Domres pass, and took it to the Colts' 7-yard line. Rocky Bleier ran it in on the next play, giving the Steelers a lead they would not relinquish.

In the 4th quarter, Colt coach Ted Marchibroda replaced Domres with Bert Jones. He did no better: He got to the Steelers' 7-yard line, but was hit by Ham, and fumbled. Of all people to pick it up, it was "not-gimmick-guy" Russell, who ran 93 yards, for the longest fumble return in NFL Playoff history at that point. Sports Illustrated called it "the longest, slowest touchdown ever witnessed." It put the cap on a 28-10 Steeler win.

Steeler fan Lisa Benz wrote a poem about the game and the Towels, and sent it to Cope, who read it on the air. It concluded:

He ran ninety-three like a bat out of hell,
And no one could see how he rambled so well.
"It was easy", said Andy, and he flashed a crooked smile:
"I was snapped on the fanny by the Terrible Towel!"

So the gimmick worked. The next week, Gimbel's department stores all over Western Pennsylvania sold out of yellow and gold dish towels. Cope got rich off the idea. In 1996, he gave the rights to The Terrible Towel to the Allegheny Valley School in nearby Coraopolis, which cares for people with intellectual and physical disabilities. Cope's son Danny was autistic, and had attended the school. Proceeds from Towel sales have raised over $6 million for the school.

Having won Super Bowl IX the season before, the Steelers went on to win Super Bowl X. After 2 years of near-misses, they won Super Bowl XIII and Super Bowl XIV. The 2005 season, in which they went on to win Super Bowl XL, was Cope's retirement season. They won Super Bowl XLIII as well, a few months after Cope's death. They've also lost Super Bowl XXX and Super Bowl XLV.

A standard Terrible Towel, now bearing Cope's name, is 16-by-23-inches. It was the original sports-team gimmick, preceding the Cleveland Indians' "Hate the Yankees Hanky" by nearly 2 years, the Minnesota Twins' "Homer Hanky" by nearly 12 years, and the Atlanta Braves' foam Tomahawk by almost 16 years.

Because of their 1970s success, when they were frequently on television, the Steelers gained lots of fans in big cities whose teams weren't doing well at the time, like New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Chicago. (This is also true of the decade's other successful teams: The Dallas Cowboys, the Miami Dolphins, and the then-Oakland Raiders.) As a result, Steeler fans are everywhere.

And as a result of that, Steeler fans have taken their Towels everywhere: The Vatican in Rome, the Western Wall in Jerusalem, the Great Wall of China, Mount Everest, the South Pole. Soldiers have taken them to war zones. Pittsburgh-born rapper Wiz Khalifa put one in a video. Pittsburgh-born astronaut Mike Fincke took one to the International Space Station in 2009.

Making it the most "far out" piece of sports memorabilia ever.

Don't tell me Alan Shepard swung a golf club on the Moon:
He did, but golf is not a sport.

Although the Rooney family, owners of the Steelers since their founding in 1933, is Republican, team president Dan Rooney gave a Towel to Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton when she campaigned in the 2008 Pennsylvania Primary. She won it, though she lost the nomination to Barack Obama.

In the general election, Rooney gave Obama one, and Rooney's ticket-splitting support may have made the difference in Obama winning the State. Obama rewarded him by appointing him U.S. Ambassador to Ireland, a post into which he was sworn in by Obama's Secretary of State -- Hillary Clinton. He served for 3 years.

Terrible Towels usually cost $10. I once attended a sports memorabilia show at the Wildwoods Convention Center on the Jersey Shore, and saw them for sale. I bought 2, keeping 1, and sending the other to a friend who's a big Steeler fan.

In 2011, some scenes for the Batman film The Dark Knight Rises were filmed in Pittsburgh. Three Rivers' replacement, then named Heinz Field and now named Acrisure Stadium, stood in for Gotham City's football stadium; and the fictional Gotham Rogues wore black and gold like the Steelers. Several real-life Steelers appeared, and the fans were given yellow towels with black lettering, labeled as "Rogue Rags."

*

But do not mock the Terrible Towel, nor misuse it. There is a Curse of the Terrible Towel. No, I'm not kidding. During player introductions for the Steelers' 1994 Playoff game against the arch-rival Browns, Brentson Buckner came out waving one, and dropped it. The Browns' Earnest Byner stepped on it, saying, "We don't care about your towel! We're going to beat you this time!" They did not, and less than a year later, the original version of the Browns was moved, becoming the Baltimore Ravens.

You would think that opponents would have learned from this, but some didn't. In 2005, T.J. Houshmandzadeh of the Bengals celebrated a touchdown by wiping his feet on one. The Bengals won, but the Steelers went on to beat them in the Playoffs, and the Bengals didn't win another Playoff game for 16 years. They didn't even make the Playoffs again until 4 years later -- after Houshmandzadeh had left the team.

In 2008, Derrick Mason of the Ravens stepped on a Towel. The Steelers swept their Divisional games against the Ravens, and then beat them in the AFC Championship Game. That same season, Jacksonville Jaguars mascot Jaxson de Ville celebrated a Jags touchdown against the Steelers by taking a Towel and scratching his armpits with it. The Steelers came from behind to win, and the Jags lost 8 of their last 11 games.

The same season, the Tennessee Titans beat the Steelers, and LenDale White and Keith Bulluck celebrated by stomping on a Towel, and they ended up as the top seed in the AFC Playoffs, but lost at home to the Ravens, who then lost to the Steelers. They ended up losing 8 straight games, including their 2009 season opener against the Steelers and a 59-0 loss to the New England Patriots. NFL teams simply don't lose games by 59 points, but the Titans did. Head coach Jeff Fisher publicly apologized for the desecration of the Towel, bought a new one, had his players autograph it, and donated it to the Allegheny Valley School. Did that generous gesture remove the Curse? Apparently: The Titans won their next 5 games.

The same season, as the Arizona Cardinals prepared to play the Steelers in Super Bowl XLIII, Mayor Phil Gordon of Phoenix hosted a pep rally at City Hall, invited Cards mascot Big Red to the stage, and handed him a Towel. Big Red proceeded to use the Towel to scratch his armpits and blow his nose (beak). The Steelers won.

After 4 such incidents in 1 season alone, you'd think people would've learned. Alas, in the closing minutes of a 2009 game in Detroit, the Steelers led by 8 points, but the Lions were marching down the field in the hope of a tying touchdown. Lions mascot Roary found a Towel, stepped on it, and ripped it apart with his teeth. Result: 3 straight sacks and a Steeler win. That same season, the Indianapolis Colts tried to pay tribute, issuing blue and white "Terrific Towels." It almost worked: They did reach Super Bowl XLIV, but lost to the New Orleans Saints.

In 2014, Jaxson de Ville struck again. During a game with the Steelers in Jacksonville, he held up a Towel with one hand and a sign reading "Towels Carry Ebola" with the other. Not only did the Steelers win the game, but the Jags lost 13 of their next 17. In 2016, as the Steelers opened the season against the Washington Redskins, Washington punter Tress Way tweeted a video of his mother burning a Terrible Towel in a voodoo cemetery. The Steelers won.

Even other sports are not immune to the Curse. On February 7, 2016, the Penguins were visiting the Florida Panthers, and trailed 2-0 with about 6 minutes left in regulation. Florida's mascot, Stanley C. Panther, blew his nose into a Terrible Towel. The Pens tied the game and won it in overtime. 

The Jacksonville Jaguars are so dumb! (How dumb are they?) They're so dumb, they are a three-time loser when it comes to messing with the Terrible Towel. On October 29, 2023, they beat the Steelers, 20-10. During the game, several Jacksonville players took fans’ Terrible Towels, mockingly waved them around, and dropped them. The team proceeded to finish the season 3-6, which included a loss in their final game against the Tennessee Titans, 28-20. This not only eliminated the Jaguars from playoff contention, but gave the Steelers the final AFC Playoff spot.

So, if you don't want horrible things to happen to you, do not mess with the Terrible Towel. Leave it alone.

December 23, 1972: The Immaculate Reception

Note: When I wrote this, months in advance, I had no idea that Franco Harris would die just 2 days before the anniversary. By all accounts, he seemed to be in good health for his age.

December 23, 1972, 50 years ago: The Pittsburgh Steelers play their 1st Playoff game, in their 40th season. And for most of the game, it wasn't looking good.

They began play in 1933, with Art Rooney having founded them. But Art's love of football far exceeded his knowledge of it. In 1947, they finished in a 1st place tie in the NFL Eastern Division with the Philadelphia Eagles, and lost a playoff. To this day, the NFL does not recognize this as an official Playoff game.

Finally, after a 1-13 season in 1969, Art's sons, Dan and Art Jr., told dear old Dad to let them run the team from now on. And in just 3 seasons, they had built the team into AFC Central Division Champions.

Al Davis ran the Oakland Raiders, and had built them into AFL Champions in 1967. But they lost Super Bowl II, then lost the 1968 AFC Championship Game to the New York Jets. By 1972, they were dominating the AFC Western Division, but hadn't won a Super Bowl yet.

And so, on Saturday afternoon, December 23, 1972, Davis' Silver and Black marched into Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh to face the Rooneys' Black and Gold. For a game with such an epic ending, it was not good theater most of the way. The 1st half ended scoreless. Roy Gerela kicked a field goal early in the 2nd half, but it remained 3-0 at the end of the 3rd quarter. Gerela kicked another field goal early in the 4th quarter, but the Steelers couldn't put the ball in the end zone, so it remained 6-0 as the clock wound down.

Daryle Lamonica, known as the Mad Bomber, struggled in the 1st half, and coach John Madden replaced him with Ken Stabler, the Alabama lefthander known as the Snake. With 1:17 to go, Stabler ran for 30 yards to get into the end zone. George Blanda, the Raiders' ageless backup quarterback and regular kicker, nailed the extra point, and the Raiders had a 7-6 lead.

The Steelers did not yet have a reputation as the kind of team that could win this kind of game. And Pittsburgh fans, who had seen the Pirates win the World Series the year before, were not used to glory from their football team. The 50,327 fans inside Three Rivers figured the game was lost.

Among them was Art Rooney. "The Chief" his suite and got into an elevator, to go down to the locker room to congratulate the Raiders and console his team. So he never saw the play that changed the course of his team's history.

Quarterback Terry Bradshaw, who had been the top pick in the 1970 NFL Draft, had a difficult relationship, not just with head coach Chuck Noll, but with the Pittsburgh fans. He hadn't yet lived up to their hopes. Now, he had gotten the Steelers to their own 40 yard line. But it was 4th and 10, and there were only 22 seconds left, and the Steelers had no time-outs left.

Noll's intended play was "66 Circle Option," intended for Barry Pearson, a rookie who had been on the Steelers' bench all season long without being sent into a game. Now, he was -- his 1st professional play.

But just as no battle plan survives the first shot, Noll's play didn't last. Raiders Tony Cline and Horace Jones bore down on Bradshaw, and "the Blonde Bomber" from Louisiana had to scramble. He just got a throw off before getting clobbered by Cline and knocked to Three Rivers' artificial turf.

The ball got to the Raiders' 33-yard line, and it looked like Steeler running back John "Frenchy" Fuqua was going to catch it. But Raider safety Jack Tatum did what he so often did to potential receivers: He leveled him.

Big mistake: As with so many dirty soccer players, Tatum should have gone for the ball, not the opposing player. He could have intercepted it. Instead, the ball bounced off him, and went backwards to the Raider 43. And it almost hit the ground.

And for 49 years, the Raiders and their fans have insisted that the ball hit Fuqua first, which, under the rules of the time, would have made every Pittsburgh player an ineligible receiver. And they have insisted that the ball did hit the ground.

It didn't. Franco Harris, the Steelers' half-black, half-Italian rookie running back out of Penn State, saved it, and took off down the left sideline, and scored. It was 3:29 PM -- don't bet any Steeler fan old enough to remember.

Steeler radio announcer Jack Fleming said, with only slight exaggeration, "From out of nowhere came Franco Harris, riding a white stallion, heading up Franco's Italian Army, galloping into the sunset!"

Like Rooney, Bradshaw didn't see the play. He remembered being down on the ground, and hearing a tremendous roar going up: "I knew that this was a good sound. This was the sound of something good happening."

Fans came pouring onto the field, and had to be cleared, because there was still an extra point to kick, which Gerela did, and 5 seconds to play. The Raiders could do nothing with the ensuing kickoff, and the Steelers had won, 13-7.

Those '72 Raiders still insist they were robbed. It would take until the 1976 season for them to win a Super Bowl. But the Steelers didn't win immediately, either: This was the season in which the Miami Dolphins went undefeated. Eight days later, they came into Three Rivers -- at the time, home-field advantage for Conference Championships was on a rotating basis, not decided by record -- and beat the Steelers, on their way to winning Super Bowl VII.

But the Steelers would win Super Bowls IX, X, XIII and XIV. Harris was named the Most Valuable Player for IX, receiver Lynn Swann for X, and Bradshaw for XIII and XIV. The Raiders would win Super Bowls XI, XV and XVIII.

The catch became known as "The Immaculate Reception." What Art Rooney, a devout Irish Catholic, thought about that, only he knew. Others, noting that it was 2 days to Christmas, called it a Christmas Miracle.

But, along with Alan Ameche's overtime plunge to win the 1958 NFL Championship Game for the Baltimore Colts, Bart Starr's quarterback sneak to win the 1967 Championship Game (the Ice Bowl), and Dwight Clark's "The Catch" from Joe Montana to win the 1981 NFC Championship Game, it ranks as perhaps the greatest play in NFL history.

Another NFL Playoff game was played that day, with the Dallas Cowboys beating the San Francisco 49ers in another classic, 30-28 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

The next day, Christmas Eve, the Washington Redskins beat the Green Bay Packers, 16-3 at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington. And the Miami Dolphins beat the Cleveland Browns, 20-14 at the Orange Bowl in Miami.

The following week, New Year's Eve, saw the Conference Championships: Dolphins 21, Steelers 17 at Three Rivers; and Redskins 26, Cowboys 3 at RFK Stadium. On January 14, 1973, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the Dolphins completed their undefeated season, beating the Redskins, 14-7 in Super Bowl VII.

Dan Rooney, 1932-2017

Daniel Milton Rooney was born on July 20, 1932, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His father, Art Rooney, founded the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers on May 19, 1933.

This means that Dan Rooney was a Steeler for life. Not just for nearly all of his life, but, until now, for all of the team's life.

Art Rooney and his wife, the former Kathleen "Kass" McNulty, had 5 sons. They were Dan, Art Jr., Tim, Patrick and John. They would have 32 grandchildren and 75 great-grandchildren. Art Jr. said that Art Sr., known to all of Western Pennsylvania as "The Chief," always told his sons, "Treat everybody the way you'd like to be treated. Give them the benefit of the doubt. But never let anyone mistake kindness for weakness." Or, as Art Jr. put it, "He took the Golden Rule, and put a little bit of the North Side in it."

The Rooney family has long lived in the Troy Hill section of Pittsburgh's North Side, which included North Catholic High School -- now named Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic High School and located in nearby Cranberry Township. The Rooney boys would assist their father at Steeler training camp, and in games at Forbes Field and later at Pitt Stadium. Dan served as a ballboy, and sold game-day programs. The sons seemed to be the only ones to notice a young Pittsburgh native at the 1955 camp, but their father deferred to the judgement of his head coach, Walt Kiesling, who cut the rookie.

What's that? You've never heard of Walt Kiesling? I'm not surprised. But you have heard of the rookie. He caught on with the Baltimore Colts the next season. His name was Johnny Unitas.

In 1952, while a student at Pittsburgh's Duquesne University, from which he would graduate with a degree in accounting, Dan Rooney married Patricia Reagan, who was working in the Steeler offices. They had 9 children. In 1960, he became the Steelers' director of personnel.

*

In 1964, in its 2nd year of inductions, Art Rooney became a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and admired by all who knew him. But, let's be blunt: At this point, he was a failure as the operator of a football team.

From 1933 to 1968, 36 seasons, the Steelers had made the Playoffs exactly once, in 1947, because they'd tied the cross-State Philadelphia Eagles for 1st place in the NFL's Eastern Division. They held a Playoff at Forbes Field, and the Eagles won it.

If Art had died shortly after the Jets won Super Bowl III on January 12, 1969, it would have been said -- as is now being said of the late Chicago Blackhawks owner Bill Wirtz -- that the best thing he did for his team was to die, so that his son could run the team.

Indeed, his sons held what we would now call an "intervention," telling him that they should take over the operations of the team. He agreed -- and lived another 20 years, in which the sons turned the Steelers from a joke franchise into an iconic team of American sports.

Pretty much the first thing that Dan Rooney did was offer the Steelers' head coaching job to the head coach at nearby Penn State, Joe Paterno. Paterno turned him down. So he offered it to the defensive coordinator of the team the Jets had just beaten in the Super Bowl, who had been on the staff of the San Diego Chargers team that won the 1963 AFL Championship, and a lineman who had won 2 NFL Championships with the Cleveland Browns: Chuck Noll.

Dan's brother Art Jr. drafted Joe Greene, Jon Kolb and L.C. Greenwood in 1969; Terry Bradshaw and Mel Blount in 1970; Jack Ham, Gerry Mullins, Dwight White, Larry Brown, Ernie Holmes and Mike Wagner in 1971; Franco Harris and Steve Furness in 1972; and, in 1974, in perhaps the greatest single draft in NFL history, Lynn Swann, Jack Lambert, John Stallworth and Mike Webster -- 4 Hall-of-Famers in one draft.

Counting Greene, Bradshaw, Blount, Ham and Harris, that was 9 Hall-of-Famers in 6 drafts. Counting Noll, 10 -- all based on the decisions of Dan Rooney and Art Rooney Jr. To put that in perspective: The team had 5 players from 1933 to 1968 who ended up making the Hall. (Since, they've had 3, although some of the players from the Super Bowl XL and XLIII who may make it are not yet eligible.)

(UPDATE: Through the Hall's NFL Centennial election of 2020, there are 19 players who could legitimately be said to have been elected based at least in art on their performance with the Steelers. Donnie Shell has made it 10 players from that 1969-74 period, and 5 from the 1974 Draft alone. Before them, there were 5: Bill Dudley in the 1940s, Ernie Stautner and Jack Butler in the 1950s, Bobby Layne and John Henry Johnson in the 1960s. Since those '70s stars, there's been 4: Dermontti Dawson and Rod Woodson in the 1990s, and Jerome Bettis and Troy Polamalu in the 2000s. Ben Roethlisberger is still active, and thus not yet eligible.)

It took a while to build a winner, especially because Noll and Bradshaw had a contentious relationship. Moving from 1925-built Pitt Stadium into the new Three Rivers Stadium in 1970 helped. But in 1972, the Steelers won the AFC Central Division Championship, and reached the AFC Championship Game.

They made the Playoffs again in 1973. In 1974, they finally went all the way, winning Super Bowl IX on January 12, 1975. Pete Rozelle said his happiest moment in his 29 seasons as Commissioner of the NFL was handing the Vince Lombardi Trophy to Art Rooney Sr. -- but it was because of the building done by Dan and Art Jr.

The Steelers would reach 4 Super Bowls (IX, X, XIII and XIV), winning all of them, in a span of 6 years. All tolled, under Dan Rooney's operation, 48 seasons, they reached the Playoffs 29 times, won 22 Division titles (15 in the old AFC Central, 7 in the AFC North following the 2002 realignment), reached 16 AFC Championship Games (including this past season), won 8 AFC Championships, and won 6 Super Bowls, the most NFL Championships in the Super Bowl era. He also built Heinz Field, the Steelers' new home, for the 2001 season, and it is one of the best stadiums in the NFL.

With the 1st 4 Vince Lombardi Trophies

The Steelers became a cultural phenomenon, with their black and gold uniforms, their helmets with the "Steelmark" logo on only the right side with the left side remaining blank, their multi-ethnic working-class fan base, and their bright yellow Terrible Towels being waved in the stands (first at Three Rivers Stadium, then at Heinz Field).

The fact that the Steelers stood up, usually successfully, to the Dallas Cowboys and the Oakland Raiders, 2 of the most hated NFL teams nationwide, also helped boost their national image. Along with the Cowboys, the Raiders, the Green Bay Packers (due to their similar cultural stamp in the 1960s) and the Chicago Bears (ditto for the 1980s), the Steelers are one of the few NFL teams to have a nationwide fan base.

In New York and New Jersey, 400 miles from Pittsburgh, you can see Steeler bumper stickers and window stickers on cars every day. A website called SteelersBars.com lists bars catering to Steeler fans in 48 States, all but Nebraska and South Dakota.

Art Rooney Sr. loved it -- but it was Dan Rooney, and, to a lesser but very significant extent, Art Rooney Jr., who made it happen.

*

Dan is widely credited with leading the negotiations that ended the 1982 NFL players' strike and passing the collective bargaining agreement that followed it. In 1989, Rozelle retired, and some owners wanted to make Dan the new Commissioner. He declined, saying he'd rather continue to run his team. Paul Tagliabue was elected instead. In 1993, Dan led the NFL in approving the salary cap. In 2006, when Tagliabue retired, it was Dan Rooney who called Roger Goodell, and told him that he'd been elected the new Commissioner.

Goodell repaid the compliment with this blurb for Dan's memoir My 75 Years With the Pittsburgh Steelers and the NFL: "The story of Dan Rooney is the story of the NFL."

Art Rooney Sr. died in 1988, and Dan became majority owner, replacing Noll with Bill Cowher in 1992. By that point, Art Jr. had reduced his involvement in the team. (UPDATE: As of 2020, he remains a team vice president.) In 2003, Dan followed in his father's footsteps, and handed over day-to-day operations to his son, Art Rooney II (grandson of the founder and nephew of Art Jr.). It was Art II who oversaw the building of the teams that won Super Bowls XL and XLIII and lost Super Bowl XLV, and in 2007 replaced the retiring Cowher with his assistant, Mike Tomlin, the team's 1st black head coach.

That fact is significant because of "The Rooney Rule," which the NFL established at Dan's urging in 2003. Tony Dungy, a former Steeler defensive back and assistant coach, had just been fired as head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers -- who ended up winning Super Bowl XXXVII under their new head coach, the white former Oakland Raider coach Jon Gruden. Dennis Green had also just been fired as head coach of the Minnesota Vikings, despite a winning record.

A group of civil rights attorneys, led by the legendary Johnnie Cochran, released a study showing that black head coaches, despite winning a higher percentage of games, were less likely to be hired, and more likely to be fired, than their white counterparts.

The Rooney family, like the great baseball executive Branch Rickey, consider themselves Abraham Lincoln-style Republicans, demanding fairness for all, regardless of race or religion. This was certainly an issue for the Rooneys, because Art Sr. was old enough to remember when being an Irish Catholic meant serious discrimination. Art Sr. had also helped to keep the Negro League's Pittsburgh-based Homestead Grays afloat for a time, and had no qualms about bringing black players to the Steelers once the color barrier had been broken in 1946.

One of Dan's key hires when he took control was Bill Nunn Jr., a black sportswriter who knew the football programs at what are now called Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), and became one of the team's top scouts.

Dan's "Rooney Rule" requires teams to search among black, Hispanic and Asian candidates for all senior football operations positions within the NFL, regardless of a team's title for that position. Currently, 6 of the 32 head coaches in the NFL are African-American (Tomlin, Todd Bowles of the Jets, Hue Jackson of the Browns, Marvin Lewis of the Cincinnati Bengals, Jim Caldwell of the Detroit Lions and Anthony Lynn of the Los Angeles Chargers).

So 18.8 percent of the head coaches are black, and 7 of the general managers, or 21.9 percent -- as opposed to 12.6 percent of the general U.S. population, but 67.3 percent of NFL players. In addition,
1 head coach, Ron Rivera of the Carolina Panthers, is Hispanic. About 17.6 percent of Americans are Hispanic, but only 0.6 percent of NFL players are Hispanic.

In 2008, Dan and Art II bought out Dan's brothers, who wanted to increase their involvement in gambling establishments. Art Sr. had owned Yonkers Raceway in New York's Westchester County and Suffolk Downs in Boston. His son (Dan's brother) Tim runs Yonkers Raceway today.

A wing of the Rooney family lives in Florida, and controls horse and dog tracks there. Pat Rooney's son Tom is a Republican Congressman, representing a district southeast of Tampa Bay. His brother, Patrick Jr., is in the State House of Representatives, representing northern Palm Beach County.

Despite the family's Republican record, in 2008, Dan Rooney endorsed Senator Barack Obama of Illinois for President. He did not cite any unhappiness with Republican handling of the economy or the Iraq War. He did say, "When I think of Barack Obama's America, I have great hope. I support his candidacy, and look forward to his Presidency."

Some people believe Dan's endorsement won Pennsylvania for Obama. I doubt that it made much of a difference: The State had gone for the Democratic nominee in every election since 1992. And Obama would have won the election even if he'd lost Pennsylvania.

Dan would also give the 44th President a Number 44 jersey

at the White House ceremony honoring the Steelers

after winning Super Bowl XLIII in 2009.

But Obama remembered Dan's efforts, and also remembered his long record of support for Irish-American charities (inherited from his father), and named him U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Ireland. He served in the post from July 1, 2009 to December 14, 2012.

Art Rooney Sr. and Dan Rooney are only the 2nd father-and-son combination to both be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The other is Tim and Wellington Mara of the Giants, with whom they would be linked by their descendants. Art Rooney Sr. and Tim Mara were good friends, linked by the horse-racing business. Wellington Mara's son Tim married Art Jr.'s daughter Kathleen. Their daughters, actresses Kate Mara and Rooney Mara, are thus great-granddaughters of the founders of the Steelers and the Giants.

"Mean Joe" Greene made the presentation speech when Dan was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2000, saying "Dan has always led with humility. When things go as planned, Dan is in the background. When things don’t go as planned, he’s in the forefront."

Dan Rooney with a not-so-mean Joe Greene

at Heinz Field, September 8, 2013

That included always being there for his players, just as his father had, showing them that he was never going to be an absentee owner. As Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said this past January:

I have played with guys that have come from other teams. They look shocked when they see our owners, whether it's Mr. Dan Rooney or Mr. Art Rooney II, walking around the locker room and walking around practice. They don't ever see their owners. We see our owners every single day. I think it's just a blessing to know that they care about us, and that's one of the reasons we want to go win.

But it became harder for him as old age caught up to him. Recent photos showed him seriously stooped over. Dan Rooney passed away at the age of 84 yesterday, April 13, 2017. No cause was listed with the initial announcement, but it's been said that his health was deteriorating in recent weeks, and he missed the annual NFL owners' meeting a few weeks ago in Phoenix, his first time missing it since his father handed him the keys to the kingdom in 1969.

Bill Cowher said, "He was like a father, a friend, a mentor, a boss who inspired others around him. He was a people person and he never forgot where he came from. He epitomized Pittsburgh: Hard-working, humble, no-nonsense, tell it the way it is,and never forget where he came from. That's him. That's Pittsburgh."

No less an opponent than Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones called it "a sad day for anyone who has had an association with the NFL," noting that Rooney "made all of our lives better."

"He shaped the league with instincts, wisdom and a soft-spoken velvet touch," Jones said. "He was a steward and a guardian for the growth and popularity of the NFL, because he loved the game so much."

Obama hailed him as well: "Dan Rooney was a great friend of mine. But, more importantly, he was a great friend to the people of Pittsburgh, a model citizen, and someone who represented the United States with dignity and grace on the world stage."

Dan Rooney knew what was important around the world. He knew what was important around the block, too.

Surely, he was taught by his father the words of Rudyard Kipling, because he certainly lived them:

If you can dream, and not make dreams your master
If you can think, and not make thoughts your aim
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
and treat those two impostors just the same...

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue
or walk with kings, nor lose the common touch
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you
If all men count with you, but none too much

If you can fill the unforgiving minute
with sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
yours is the Earth and everything that's in it
and, which is more, you'll be a Man, my son!

Dan Rooney was a man for all seasons -- not just 84 seasons of professional football, but for any season, for any occasion.

UPDATE: He was buried at Christ Our Redeemer Catholic Cemetery in Pittsburgh. It is also the final resting place of his father Art, Chuck Noll, long-ago Steeler coach Walt Kiesling, and 1890s baseball catcher Dick Buckley.