PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – “I think a lot about the late Ambassador Rooney and how fired up he would be about this trip and how important the development of this trip was for him.”
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin on Tuesday as the Steelers play a game for the second time in team history, first time in the regular season in the Rooney’s ancestral home Sunday in Dublin, Ireland.
“I'm sure I'll be thinking a lot about it this week,” Tomlin said. “And I certainly will be thinking a lot of about him when we're there. Man, you talk about a guy that certainly had a lot of passion for Ireland, and obviously the Steelers, and serving as ambassador to Ireland.”
“I'm sure he's gonna be smiling down at us this weekend.”
Rooney was appointed the United States Ambassador to Ireland and started in July of 2009 and served in that role until December of 2012. He made it a point to visit all 32 counties because he wanted the Irish citizens to know America cared.
Before that in the mid-1970s, Rooney worked to establish The Ireland Fund, a charitable organization benefitting Ireland. It has merged and is now known as The Ireland Funds which states a mission of promoting programs of peace and reconciliation, arts and culture, education and community development throughout Ireland.
“I don’t know anybody who is more of a gentleman, who is more loyal, who is more committed to excellence, than Mr. Rooney,” President Barack Obama said about the late Steelers President.
Rooney died in 2017 before this game could be scheduled, but understand he put the pieces in motion to make this happen. He started a tradition during his time as ambassador of holding a flag football game in Ireland on the Fourth of July. It has now become a regular-season reality, with his team.
He would be smiling indeed.
Most of the current team never met Dan Rooney. Tomlin said it doesn’t take a trip like this to educate the new Steelers about the impact he had on football locally and nationally.
“How he cared about this football team and what he thought this football team meant, not only to the National Football League, but our fans, this community, the responsibility that comes with being a Steeler,” Tomlin said. “The education is continual.”
Sunday they will all represent him at Croke Park in Dublin.