Imagine the owner of a National Football League franchise also owning a Thoroughbred breeding farm in the Mid-Atlantic.
Yeah, seems far-fetched. People who own NFL teams don't bother with mares, foals, stallions, sales yearlings, layups, raising crops to support them and all the other details of a working horse farm that's not also a showplace. And those same people certainly don't -- when they visit the farm -- stay with the farm manager's family, sneak homemade cookies or take walks around the place while chomping on a cigar.
But one did. Art Rooney, founding owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, also owned Maryland's Shamrock Farm. Rooney wasn't hands-on with the farm details, but he probably could have been given all the other pursuits in his life. He played basketball, football and baseball in college, won an Amateur Athletic Union welterweight boxing championship in 1918 and tried out for the 1920 Olympic team. He played minor-league baseball and was a halfback on a semi-pro football team in Pittsburgh. In 1933, he paid $2,500 to start a hometown franchise in the NFL, which -- eventually -- became the Steelers (winners of six Super Bowls and still owned by the Rooney family).
In addition to football, Rooney was a racing fan who used the winnings from a big bet at Saratoga Race Course to help fund the Steelers' early years. Rooney later bred and owned Thoroughbred and Standardbred horses. He owned the Yonkers Raceway harness track, Green Mountain Thoroughbred track in Vermont, the Palm Beach Kennel Club Greyhound track in Florida and Liberty Bell and Keystone racetracks near Philadelphia.
Founded by Rooney in 1948, Shamrock was part-business venture, part-getaway -- and all Rooney. The Woodbine farm raised Standardbreds and Thoroughbreds, ran cattle, grew crops and muscled its way into a crowded pool of state Thoroughbred operations. When Rooney's star racehorse Christopher R. retired to stud, he stood one season at Glade Valley Farm before moving to Shamrock in 1978 under the management of new hire Jim Steele.
Steele stayed for nearly 50 years and got more than a job. He and his wife Christie raised five sons at Shamrock. Rooney, who died at age 87 in 1988, became a combination boss, mentor and friend.
Shamrock stayed busy, and relevant, under Rooney's sons and grandchildren but closed this year and was sold to the state as the potential home for a new training center. Steele can't help but think of the horses, the people who came through and the moments along the way
"Art Rooney was not fancy, was not anything you'd think," Steele said. "He was a self-made man. He knew important people (former Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill visited Shamrock), but he didn't put on airs."
Steele won't forget the trips to New York City, Pittsburgh, Miami for the Super Bowl, Pimlico Race Course, a raucous Colts-Steelers game at Memorial Stadium and on and on. All typically involved what Steele thought were going to be swanky moments, but instead turned into far-more-valuable times.
Rooney in New York: "Let's go to lunch."
Steele: "I remember thinking this is going to be some big-time lunch."
They walked to the corner drug store and sat in a booth.
Rooney: "I want you to come to a game in Pittsburgh. You can come to dinner afterward so we can talk."
Steele: "Dinner, the night after a game? In Pittsburgh? This is going to be a real dinner out. I better be ready."
Steele parked his car at the Rooneys' house, walked to Three Rivers Stadium for the early-afternoon game, walked back afterward. At the house, Rooney was watching the 4 o'clock NFL game on television. "Do you like steak?" he asked his farm manager. Steele said yes and they ate steaks, prepared by Rooney's wife Kathleen, in the kitchen during halftime of the game. Then they watched the second half together.
Dinner in Maryland was at an Italian spot on Route 40. Rooney would send the owner, who would carry the Steeles' children around the place, footballs to display. When they went racing, Rooney would park at the old Pimlico Hotel, have lunch and walk to the races. Afterward, they'd walk back and have dinner. By that time, the traffic was cleared, and they could drive back to Shamrock with no delays.
"He loved the racing," Steele said. "When I'd go with him to the track, the guys would know him. He'd ask the guys if they had any tips. He was always getting tips. Back when he was making a lot of money gambling, he couldn't go up to the window because people would follow him and know who he was betting. He would send runners, and he'd always wait until the last minute. And he didn't bet every race. He'd wait and bet when he thought the odds were right on a horse he liked."
On a trip to a Super Bowl, Rooney and Steele went racing at Gulfstream Park and -- as expected -- the box was a busy stopping point for people who wanted a few minutes with Rooney. Howard Cosell came by to talk. Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder was there. Rooney just wanted a day at the track.
"He couldn't handicap horses because people kept walking by and wanting to talk to him," Steele said. "He was trying to handicap. I was 27 years old, green behind the ears. I did not appreciate what I had."
No one did.
