Meeting Dan Rooney

---

As a small business owner and entrepreneur,  I created and launched PittsburghUrbanMedia.com in 2009 as an opportunity to showcase Pittsburgh's diversity through the people, places and things that make Pittsburgh great.  Specifically, I showcase what is happening in Western Pennsylvania with the African American community and present key issues and stories from the African American perspective. 

Another project of mine was to launch RooneyRule.com to help educate and inspire future generations about the importance of implementing inclusion and diversity practices when it comes to hiring opportunities.  All things are not equal and opportunities to climb the corporate ladder often isn’t about how qualified you are as a candidate, in fact,  it has been widely reported, that "While African Americans are making progress in corporate jobs, they remain significantly underrepresented in leadership positions compared to their white counterparts, highlighting a persistent lack of diversity in the corporate world, despite recent efforts to increase inclusion; this underrepresentation is particularly noticeable in senior management roles within many companies."

As noted throughout this site, "The Rooney Rule" is important because it mandates that NFL teams must interview at least one minority candidate for head coaching and other senior positions, thus actively promoting diversity in leadership roles within the league by ensuring that qualified minority candidates are considered for key jobs, which historically had been underrepresented in the NFL; it aims to create a more equitable hiring process and increase opportunities for minority coaches and executives to advance in their careers."

I appreciate being able to connect  with Mr. Rooney in the past when I worked at WPXI-TV, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In that position I interacted with Mr. Rooney on several occasions and saw first hand when he implemented the “Rooney Rule,” as part of the Steelers organization. I found Mr. Rooney  to be a quiet but powerful man that understood the importance of diversity and inclusion, especially when it came to the head coaching gigs in the NFL.  Mr. Rooney seemed to understand the importance of  providing a pathway for inclusion and diversity without any regrets or fear of creating this mandate. How could he not do anything, especially when you look at the latest stats with the number of African Americans playing in the league. "As of March 2024, about 53.5% of NFL players were African American, according to Statista. This makes the NFL one of the professional sports leagues with the highest percentage of African American players, along with the NBA.

As our country is at war with trying to dismantle DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) it is  especially important at this critical time that we shine the light on the “Rooney Rule” and what role it is playing and has played as an effort to provide opportunities for African Americans in the league. 

While the “Rooney Rule” continues to expand and evolve over the years, and some critics don’t believe it does enough to increase hiring practices, it is still crucial that we as African Americans  are at the table of inclusion, this is truly how democracy should work.  The “Rooney Rule” may be a start,  and moving forward we will need additional mandates to enforce diversity related hiring because without them systematic bias in hiring practices will go unchecked and continue. 

Robin Beckham

Owner

RooneyRule.com