The J.P. Rooneys (or formally the James P. Rooneys) were an independent semi-professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

team, based in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

. The team was founded by

Art Rooney Arthur Joseph Rooney Sr. (January 27, 1901 – August 25, 1988), often referred to as "The Chief", was the founding owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, an American football franchise in the National Football League (NFL), from 1933 until his death ...

, who is best known for being the founder of the Pittsburgh Steelers of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

, and this team is considered to be the beginnings of the modern-day Steelers. The team played at Exposition Park and reportedly had up to 12,000 people in the stands at times.

History

The team was founded in 1921 as Hope-Harvey. The team's name was based on two items. The first was a fire station, located in the city's Hope

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

, where the team would dress and shower for home games. The second item was based on Dr. Walter Harvey, the physician who tended to injured players. According to Art Rooney, Dr. Walter Harvey never charged the team or players for his services. The team’s uniforms were handmade by the players or members of their families so each one was sewn differently. Rooney not only served the team as a

player-coach A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

, but also recruited players from the neighborhoods and local colleges. His brothers, Dan Rooney Jr. (uncle of longtime Steelers chairman Daniel M. Rooney) and James P. Rooney, played on the team in its early years, the only time the three were players together on the same football team. After a few years of play, the team was sponsored by "Loeffler's Electronic Store", who renamed the team after one of its best selling products, the

Majestic Radio Majestic Radios was an American radio brand from 1927 to 1955, trademarked as "The Mighty Monarchs of the Air". Noted for their high quality, they were initially manufactured by the Grigsby-Grunow Company of Chicago. After Grigsby-Grunow's demis ...

. Hence the team became known as the Majestic Radios. The team's affiliation with Loeffler's ended prior to the team's 1931 season. When James decided to run for the Pennsylvania General Assembly, Art renamed the team the "J.P. Rooneys" as a way to promote his brother's campaign. James Rooney would go on to win the election easily. Rooney's semi-professional teams met a fair amount of success, including at least two Western Pennsylvania Senior Independent Football Conference titles in the early 1930s. In 1933, as Pennsylvania's blue laws were about to be repealed, Rooney applied for and received a franchise in the

. The Rooneys morphed into the Pittsburgh Pirates, and were renamed the Steelers in 1940.

Legacy

The team marked the very beginning of Art J. Rooney’s longstanding career in professional football. Art Rooney also became one of the biggest stars in the Pittsburgh sandlot football circuit as the team's

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

. Finally, this period stands as the only time when Art Rooney managed, coached and played on a team. Several of the Rooneys players would go on to play for the Pittsburgh Pirates of the NFL in 1933, such as

Mose Kelsch Christian "Mose" Kelsch (January 31, 1897 – July 13, 1935) was an American football placekicker and running back in the National Football League (NFL). He was a charter member of the Pittsburgh Pirates (which would later be renamed the ...

and Ray Kemp.. In 2003 a sculpture of the Hope-Harvey team, consisting of 23 signed and numbered figures, each cold cast in nickel resin, were created by Kathy Rooney, the youngest daughter of the team's ball boy, Vince Rooney, and her husband, Ray Sokolowski. The couple made an original sculpture and 30 copies, which sold from $20,000 to $25,000 a piece.

References

{{Pittsburgh sports 1921 establishments in Pennsylvania 1932 disestablishments in Pennsylvania Pittsburgh Steelers History of Pennsylvania Defunct American football teams in Pennsylvania