For the first time, ownership of the Steelers will expand beyond the Rooney and McGinley families. Three new primary investors include a movie producer who is a lifelong Steelers fan, a family with Pittsburgh and Los Angeles ties, and the president of a Knoxville, Tenn., business that owns travel centers and truckstops throughout the country.

James A. Haslam III

Diesel fuel, banking, restaurant chains, athletics, philanthropy and Republican Party politics may seem like an eclectic mix. But for one of the Steelers newest investors, it's his life's story.

James A. "Jimmy" Haslam III has one of the better known names in Tennessee.

His father was a tackle for Tennessee on its 1951 national championship team and captain of the team the following year. After serving with the U.S. Army in Korea, he opened the first Pilot fuel stop in Gate City, Va.

Pilot, headquartered in Knoxville, is the largest supplier of off-the-road diesel fuel in the United States, and the nation's 25th largest restaurant franchise.

Jimmy Haslam, 54, is president of Pilot Travel Centers, the nation's largest retail operator of travel centers and truckstops.

With 13,000 employees, it has franchises from Connecticut to California and from Wisconsin to Texas. Its 300 retail facilities house such chains as Subway, Wendy's, Arby's, Taco Bell, Denny's and McDonald's. Pilot also owns and operates 40 convenience stores in the Knoxville area.

Mr. Haslam sits on the board of directors of the First Tennessee Bank National Corp. and the restaurant chain Ruby Tuesday Inc.

He was the financial manager for Republican Bob Corker in his successful bid for the U.S. Senate from Tennessee in 2006. Mr. Haslam has also made campaign contributions to President George W. Bush and the National Republican Senatorial Committee, according to campaignmoney.com, and he gave $10,000 to the Tennessee Republican Party in 2006. He is also a member of the Americans for Truth in Politics.

Mr. Haslam's brother, William, is mayor of Knoxville.

Mr. Haslam's father was recently recognized as making the largest donation ever to his alma mater, the University of Tennessee.

The family has made investments in sports teams before. In 2001, the Haslams purchased the Tennessee Smokies, a Class AA baseball team, from Don Beaver, who is a limited partner in the Pittsburgh Pirates.

A phone call to the Haslam residence last night was not returned.

Robert A. Paul

Robert A. Paul, 70, is the chairman and CEO of Ampco-Pittsburgh, a specialty steel manufacturer headquartered Downtown. He began his career there in 1964, when the company was known as Screw and Bolt Corporation of America, according to the University of Pittsburgh's Web site.

He lives in Squirrel Hill with his wife, Donna. The Pauls' children, Larry, 44, Stephen, 41, and Karen Zimmer, 39, are based in Pittsburgh and Los Angeles. They could not be reached for comment last night.

The family is involved in several businesses, including radio and television stations, cable and cellular phone operations, snow and ice removal equipment, and restaurants, among others, according to a news release.

Mr. Paul sits on the board of trustees at the University of Pittsburgh. He also sits on a number of other nonprofit boards, including the board of directors at UPMC, Cornell University and the Harvard Medical School.

"He's a very knowledgeable, sophisticated man of the world of finance," said Pitt spokesman Robert Hill. "He's a good, contributing board member who makes constructive contributions."

At Cornell University, where he is an emeritus member of the board of trustees and a presidential councillor, Mr. and Mrs. Paul established The Paul Awards, a scholarship for undergraduate advisers at the university.

Mr. Paul earned a bachelor's degree in economics from Cornell and an M.B.A. and J.D. from Harvard University, according to the University of Pittsburgh's Web site.

Thomas Tull

Hollywood movie producer Thomas Tull has been a die-hard Steelers fan from the time he watched his first football game -- the Steelers' 16-6 victory against the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IX.

Since then, he has visited training camp in Latrobe and the Steelers offices on the South Side on several occasions, premiered one of his movies, "We Are Marshall," to Dan Rooney, former coach Bill Cowher and the Steelers players and delighted in getting to sit in the chair once used by the late Steelers owner and founder, Art Rooney Sr.

What's more, he never schedules a shoot or production meeting when the Steelers are playing, claiming he has never missed a snap since DirecTV debuted in 1994.

Now, after raising more than $500 million in private equity to establish Legendary Pictures, a film production company based in Burbank, Calif., Mr. Tull is one of the investors who will help finance the purchase of stock to become a minority owner in the Steelers franchise.

"The two things I love the most are movies and Steelers football," Mr. Tull said in a September interview with Steelers.com. "The fact that I can be around both is amazing. For me, especially the guys from the 70s, that is like Mount Olympus."

Mr. Tull, 38, who grew up in Binghamton, N.Y., not far from the Pennsylvania border, declined an interview request last night from the Post-Gazette, saying he preferred to let Dan Rooney and his son, Art II, have their day after the NFL owners approved their purchase of franchise stock from Dan Rooney's other four brothers.

Still, this is like a dream come true for Mr. Tull, who grew up in Binghamton and studied law and was a wide receiver on the football team at Hamilton College, an NCAA Division III school in Clinton, N.Y. After college, he bought and sold a small Laundromat chain, discovered how to raise money and eventually moved to Hollywood to purchase Legendary Pictures, which signed a 25-movie contract with Warner Brothers in 2005.

Among his movies: "Superman Returns" and "The Dark Knight."

"The Steelers versus the Vikings in the Super Bowl was the very first football I remember watching," Mr. Tull said in the book, "Steeler Nation," authored by Irwin resident Jim Wexell, a Pittsburgh-area sports journalist. "They were unbelievable and tough, and ever since I was a little kid I loved the Steelers and would wear the jersey, my little yellow wristbands, all that stuff."

Mr. Tull hasn't stopped there. Even though he never saw a game at Heinz Field until the season opener this year against the Houston Texans, he was a guest of Dan Rooney at St. Vincent College this summer, equating the experience of walking around training camp with the Steelers chairman to "like visiting the Vatican with the Pope," according to his interview in Steelers.com.

"It's something I am passionate about and love -- what the team stands for in terms of the way they play the game and have always played the game," Mr. Tull said in that interview. "I think the Rooney family is the classiest family in professional sports. I watch the way this team carries itself and it's fantastic."

-- Gerry Dulac