The Ravens-Steelers rivalry is one of the NFL's nastiest, but this week the Rooney family that owns Pittsburgh put its name on a building deep in Maryland — on a Ravens fan's home turf, no less.
Mount St. Mary's University broke ground Wednesday in Emmitsburg on the Rooney Athletic Performance Center, a 28,000-square-foot facility inside the school's PNC Sports Complex, according to a report from The Baltimore Sun's Ed Lee. The project traces back to a $6 million gift made in June 2019 by John J. and Patrick J. Rooney — identical twins, 1960 Mount St. Mary's graduates, and members of the family that has owned the Steelers since 1933 — along with their wives, JoAnn and Sandra.
Emmitsburg sits tucked against the Pennsylvania line in northern Frederick County, roughly 57 miles from Baltimore and M&T Bank Stadium — squarely inside Ravens territory — but a considerably longer haul from Pittsburgh, nearly 180 miles to the west. Geographically, the Mount is a Ravens neighbor; it just happens to carry a Steelers family's name on one of its newest buildings.
Both John and Patrick have since died — John in December 2022 and Patrick in October 2023 — but their donation is now taking physical shape more than seven years after it was made. The Rooney twins were brothers of longtime Steelers chairman Dan Rooney, making them uncles of Art Rooney II, who currently serves as the team's controlling owner.
A Gift Rooted in College Memories
Sandra Rooney, married to Patrick for 63 years, told the Sun the donation traced back to simple nostalgia rather than any grand strategy. She said it was John who first floated the idea of giving back to the school before his death, and that both brothers carried an enduring fondness for their time on the Emmitsburg campus, where they competed alongside their cousin, also named John.
On the field, John ran hurdles and competed in the high jump and pole vault, captaining the track and field team his senior year, while Patrick captained the tennis squad. Sandra recounted one especially memorable moment of Patrick's competitive streak: a tennis racket flung in frustration got stuck in a tree, forcing him to forfeit the match.
John's daughter, Alice Mahoney, a 1986 Mount St. Mary's graduate, told the Sun her father would call her constantly during her senior year, reminiscing about his own days at the school. Mahoney's family ties to the Mount run deep on both sides — her father-in-law, his brother, her husband and her son all attended as well.
What the Facility Brings
The new performance center will house four multi-use courts for basketball, volleyball and tennis, along with a 4,300-square-foot strength and conditioning space available to the broader student body, not just athletes. Six tennis courts tied to the project already opened in 2023, and the plans also carve out room for a sports medicine program.
The ripple effects extend well beyond the new building. Once complete, the track and field program — which now carries 120 student-athletes — will shift into Dillon Field House, giving that team a dedicated indoor practice space with a resurfaced floor and new pits. The old weight room is set to become a locker room for baseball, and the current sports medicine space will convert into a softball locker room. Athletic director Brad Davis called the gift "a game-changer" for a school that otherwise would have needed years to piece together funding at that scale, according to the Sun. University president Gerard J. Joyce said the space would benefit the entire campus community, not just varsity athletes, framing it as part of the school's broader mission to develop students physically as well as academically.
The strength and conditioning center and sports medicine space are targeted to open as soon as fall 2027.
A Family Connection That Outlasts a Rivalry
For a border-state university with a name synonymous with Ravens country, having a Steelers ownership family's name on a campus building is a quirk of geography and generosity rather than any football allegiance. The Rooneys' gift is a reminder that college loyalty can run deeper — and last longer — than any NFL rivalry, even one as heated as Baltimore-Pittsburgh.
Source: The Baltimore Sun