Tim Rooney, a former NFL scouting govt who received two Tremendous Bowls with the New York Giants and three with the Pittsburgh Steelers, died Tuesday. He was 84.
For 14 years, Rooney was the Giants’ director of professional personnel, becoming a member of the workforce in 1984, simply two years earlier than their Tremendous Bowl XXI overcome the Denver Broncos. Over the next 4 years, Rooney labored carefully with coach Invoice Parcells and normal supervisor George Younger to construct one other Tremendous Bowl champion, resulting in the workforce’s second title in Tremendous Bowl XXV.
“Any player I suggest has to fit the standards set here by George Young and Bill Parcells for that particular position,” Rooney informed the New York Instances in the course of that championship season in 1990.
Giants helmet
Winslow Townson/AP
The New York Giants emblem is seen on a helmet throughout an NFL preseason soccer sport in opposition to the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium, Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022 in Foxborough, Mass. (Winslow Townson/AP Pictures for Panini)
Born in Pittsburgh, Rooney was the nephew of Steelers founder Artwork Rooney Sr. His soccer profession started as a coach at Villanova College, however it wasn’t lengthy earlier than he rejoined the household enterprise as a scout in 1972.
“Now, I was a Rooney — nothing like nepotism! But I had coaching experience,” Rooney informed a Steelers weblog in 2020. “I wasn’t married — so I could travel easily.”
But when Rooney was a nepotism rent, he rapidly proved his price to the Steelers. He performed an integral position within the workforce’s draft technique all through the Nineteen Seventies, and he was within the room for the groups’ well-known 1974 draft, after they chosen 4 future Corridor of Famers, the bedrocks of a workforce that went on to win 4 Tremendous Bowls and outline the last decade within the NFL.
Rooney was credited as the person who scouted the workforce’s fearsome center linebacker, Jack Lambert, throughout a observe at Kent State, although he later chalked it as much as luck.
“I watched the scrimmage, and he was so strong from the waist up. Long, strong arms. I watched him move around and his instincts,” Rooney defined in 2020. “I don’t think it took me to find Jack Lambert. I was just the first to see him.”
After three championships with the Steelers — in 1974, 1975 and 1978 — Rooney left the household enterprise for a bigger position with the Detroit Lions. Although his time in Detroit was comparatively unremarkable, Younger employed him because the Giants’ professional personnel director in 1984.
The Mara household, which owns the Giants, has been mates with the Rooneys for many years, and the 2 clans are even associated by marriage.
“Hiring him was one of the smartest things I ever did,” Younger informed the Instances in 1999, shortly earlier than Rooney retired. “I leaned on him a lot.”
Although many former NFL gamers, coaches and executives have a tricky time staying away from the sport, Rooney dedicated absolutely to retirement after 1999. He lived in Hoboken for a while earlier than transferring again to Pittsburgh, having fun with the comforts of life with household after years spent on the highway attempting to find hidden gems.
“It’s been rewarding and fun,” Rooney informed The Instances, “but now I really want to take control of my life and do what I want to do, which will include lots of traveling and sailing.”
Initially Revealed: July 8, 2025 at 2:15 PM EDT
