Daniel Milton Rooney (July 20, 1932 - April 13, 2017) was chairman of the Pittsburgh Steelers, an American football team in the National Football League (NFL), and son of the Steelers' founder, Art Rooney. Dan Rooney was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2000 for his contributions to the game. He was credited with spearheading a requirement that NFL teams with head coach and general manager vacancies interview at least one minority candidate, which has become known as the "Rooney Rule". Rooney served as the United States Ambassador to Ireland, from July 2009 until his resignation in December 2012.
James Harrison vs. Cedrick Wilson
On March 19, 2008; Rooney released wide receiver Cedrick Wilson from the Steelers, after he was arrested for punching his former girlfriend. However earlier that month, on March 8, Rooney failed to offer any type of discipline to linebacker James Harrison for slapping his girlfriend. When asked about the incident involving Wilson, Rooney stated that "the Steelers do not condone violence of any kind, especially against women,". However, he was then confronted about this by Ed Bouchette and Michael A. Fuoco of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, who asked why Harrison was not punished for committing the same crime.  Rooney said that the cases were different and stated that "I know many are asking the question of [why] we released Wilson and Harrison we kept. The circumstances--I know of the incidents, they are completely different. In fact, when I say we don't condone these things, we don't, but we do have to look at the circumstances that are involved with other players and things like that, so they're not all the same. What James Harrison was doing and how the incident occurred, what he was trying to do was really well worth it. He was doing something that was good, wanted to take his son to get baptized where he lived and things like that. She said she didn't want to do it."  Rooney later said that Harrison had no intention of harming his girlfriend when he went to her house to pick up his son. "The situation angered him. He didn't go there with intent." Meanwhile, Rooney stated that the Wilson case was different. According to Rooney "[Wilson] knew what he was doing. He knew where his [former] girlfriend was and went to the bar looking for her. When he got there he punched her. That's different and I understand he expressed no regret.  Afterwards Rooney was criticized by the Women's Center and Shelter of Pittsburgh as a result of his comments. ESPN's Matt Mosley later wrote that Rooney's attempt to "explain that Harrison's heart was in the right place ... had to be one of the worst Public Relations moments in club history."
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Rooney released wide receiver Cedrick Wilson from the Steelers, after he was arrested for punching his former girlfriend.
Rooney released wide receiver Cedrick Wilson from the Steelers, after he was arrested for punching his former girlfriend.