Pretty cool short story........
Factoid That May Interest Only Me
by Peter King
Last week I was fortunate enough to have an audience with Douglas Nowicki, the Archabbot of St. Vincent's College in Latrobe, Pa., the Steelers' summer home. St. Vincent's is an hour east of Pittsburgh, and it's the home of about 250 Benedictine monks. Quaint, lovely, picturesque ... in short, everything that's good about NFL training camps.
Anyway, the Archabbot gave me a photocopied photo of him handing the late Pope John Paul II an autographed football in Vatican City a couple of years before his death. The football, a gift from Steelers president Dan Rooney, had been signed by every Steeler, and Nowicki hand-delivered the ball to His Holiness.
When he handed the pope the ball, Nowicki said, the pope said two words:
"Football! Rooney!''
Yes, John Paul knew the Rooneys. Small world. "We met a few times,'' Rooney told me. He must have left quite an impression
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...20/mmqb/2.html