Pittsburgh Steelers Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Chuck Noll said once that he would spit as he uttered the name “Cleveland.”
That’s despite being a Cleveland Benedictine High School product who was a linebacker and then a messenger guard for Paul Brown’s Browns for seven seasons, 1953-59.
When longtime Browns Radio Network color analyst Doug Dieken was holding down left tackle for the team for 14 years, he was asked before a game against Pittsburgh to comment about the defensive end he would be blocking, Dwight White.
“My parents taught me that if I couldn’t say anything nice about a person, then I shouldn’t say anything at all. So no comment,” said Dieken, always a go-to guy in the Browns locker room when he played.
Indeed, there have been some bitter feelings between the two franchises since they began playing each over in 1950 with the Browns’ move to the NFL from the All-America Football Conference.
But when it really mattered, the Browns and their fans had no better friend and supporter than Steelers’ Dan Rooney.
he son of Steelers founding owner Art Rooney and a Hall of Famer himself, just like his father, he died Thursday. The Steelers’ chairman was 84.
When Art Modell was moving the Browns to Baltimore following the 1995 season, Dan Rooney publicly stood up to, and not for, the Cleveland owner. That was a bold and courageous move since both Rooneys were good friends with Modell. They had never disagreed out in the open on anything. Modell and the Rooneys moved in lock-step with one another, including agreeing together to switch their teams from the old NFL (NFC) to the old AFL (AFC) to complete the merger of the two leagues in 1970.
Dan Rooney simply thought the move was wrong, and, in being a man of truth and principle, he wasn’t afraid to say so. That he did sent a clear and strong message to both Modell and the rest of the league’s owners.
A powerful man in the NFL, Rooney fought hard to bring a new Browns franchise to Cleveland. His efforts were key in that occurring. Browns fans should never, ever forget that.
Rooney stood in the Three Rivers Stadium press box on Nov. 14, 1999 as the expansion-era Browns played their first road game against the Steelers. Watching the teams go through pre-game warmups, he said, “Those orange helmets sure look good on my football field.”
In that one simple 10-word sentence, he encapsulated the true, big-picture meaning of Browns-Steelers.
Rooney fully understood the importance of the Browns to the NFL and to his team in particular, for without them during the three seasons the franchise was held in trust by the league, pro football had been without one of its historic longtime rivalries.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Rooney family. The game has lost one of its real icons.
