A ringing telephone early Monday woke Dan Rooney from a deep, satisfying sleep in his hotel room the morning after the Steelers' Super Bowl triumph.

"I reach over and pick it up and a lady's on the phone," Rooney recounted yesterday. "She says, I have President Bush for you."

Rooney, still somewhat groggy from getting little sleep after attending his team's victory party, was startled.

"What?" he asked.

George W. Bush came immediately to the phone.

"He said, 'I just want to congratulate you on a great job,' " Rooney said. " 'You guys did a great job, terrific, I'm happy for you.'

"He can hear my voice and he says, 'I hope I didn't get you up, I hope I didn't wake you.' I said, 'Mr. President, you did.' "

Rooney, a Democrat, laughed.

"He said, 'I'm a morning person; I get up early.' I said, 'Well, I usually do, too.' "

Bush then invited Rooney and the Steelers to the White House at a date to be determined. Rooney, of course, accepted. The last time the Steelers visited the White House at the chief executive's invitation, they did so with the Pirates, both World Champions in their respective 1979 seasons. Jimmy Carter was president then.

Bush's phone call to Rooney was not a long one. But he did congratulate him for two other things.

"He said how we operate is great," Rooney said. "And he thought us staying with Bill Cowher through the years also was tremendous, a good thing."