PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Art Rooney and the Steelers held a fundraiser for the 50th anniversary of the Ireland Fund Thursday night at Acrisure Stadium, honoring Mike and Kiya Tomlin along with actor Michael Keaton.
It started with a dream by the late Dan Rooney and his wife Patricia to help their ancestral home. Over those five decades President and CEO of the Ireland Fund Caitriona Fottrell said they’ve raised $750 million with events not just in Pittsburgh, but across the United States and other nations.
Fottrell said it is truly impossible to properly state the impact the Rooney’s have made in Ireland.
“I was privileged to work with Dan and Patricia,” Fottrell said. “I got to know them when I first started with the fund, they were so understated and so low key, yet so passionate and practical and real for their passion for Ireland.”
The money raised helps everything from large nationwide projects to those in small communities in Ireland. Dan’s son, Art II, remembers the humble beginnings at a fundraising dinner in 1976.
“The event was in New York,” Rooney recalled Thursday. “They honored my grandfather and we were just coming off winning two Super Bowls. It was a great party. Tony O’Reilly (one of the fund’s co-creators) always used to say we had the second Ireland fund dinner to pay for the first, and there was some truth to that.”
It seemed like a good party at a ballroom at Acrisure on Thursday. This coming months after the Steelers played a first NFL game in Ireland in September.
“It was a magical few days,” Fottrell said. “I was all over Ireland that week, there were Pittsburgh Steelers jerseys wherever you went. I was talked to a few of them (fans) and they were saying they were so surprised by how people were engaged in the game.”
“I didn’t think we had an idea of how huge it was to have an NFL game come to town. The aftereffect has been huge, I think it has really, really increased the passion and interest that has been growing in Ireland for the NFL, I think particularly for the Steelers.”
New Mike
While honoring the former coach on Thursday, Rooney briefly discussed working the first month-plus with the new Steelers head coach.
“I have to get used to a different Coach Mike,” Rooney said. “It’s been great, Coach McCarthy is doing a great job. Obviously, a lot of changes and getting used to each other. He’s been great to work with and putting together a great staff. It’s been fun to get to know him more and get to know his staff more.”