Art Rooney Jr. was inducted into the Steelers Hall of Honor as a member of the Class of 2018.
During Buddy Parker's eight-year reign as the Steelers coach from 1957-64, the team posted five winning seasons while showing a complete disdain for the NFL Draft. Parker traded away the team's draft picks in droves, and during his tenure that included four first-round picks and five second-round picks. Of the top 40 potential draft picks during his eight seasons as coach (Rounds 1 though 5 each year), Parker traded away 40 of those. That changed when Parker was fired in 1965, and it was the start of the Steelers turning to the draft as their primary method of roster-building, a philosophy that continues to this day. It also was when Art Rooney Jr. was hired as the team's Personnel Director. When Chuck Noll became the coach in 1969, he teamed with a Scouting Department headed by Art Rooney Jr. to draft nine Hall of Fame players, in addition to adding 11 more (nine draft picks and two undrafted rookies) from 1969-74 who would earn four Super Bowl rings with the team during the 1970s.
