More than 50 years later, Art Rooney Jr. still remembers a significant Pittsburgh Steelers moment amid an unlikely backdrop.
Palm trees, not steel mills, dotted the landscape when he hopped onto a golf cart driven by John McKay. The USC football coach was just a season removed from winning the third of four national championships in the shadow of Hollywood.
Rooney, as part of his crisscrossing the country to scout college players, had stopped at USC, which was always overflowing with premium talent. While driving him around during a Trojans practice, McKay extolled the “best of the best” of his NFL prospects.