"In those days, none of my friends in the neighborhood and none of my family went to college," recalled Rooney, a professor emeritus of psychology at La Salle University. "It was the Depression and I didn't think I was going to go to college."

Most people he knew found jobs in factories or other blue-collar pursuits.

Nevertheless, Rooney enrolled at La Salle in fall 1940, graduated with a chemistry degree in 1946 - after a stint in the Navy - and started teaching there in 1947.

Today, Rooney, a slender, spry 86-year-old who easily takes the steps to his second-floor Wister Hall office, is still working at La Salle after 62 years.

"In my earlier years, I had offers to go to other places that I'd consider, and each time, I thought, 'I like it where I am,' " Rooney said this week.

He retired from teaching at age 70, but now Rooney is director of La Salle's master's program in clinical and counseling psychology.

Tomorrow night, Rooney will be one of two alumni honored by La Salle's Alumni Association.

Rooney will receive the John J. Finley Award, presented to a La Salle grad who has provided outstanding service to the university.

Donna Tonrey, who works closely with Rooney in the Psychology Department as director of the school's Marriage and Family Therapy program, described him as "just a wonderful, wonderful person, mentor and director."

She said that Rooney's wisdom helps him have an optimistic and positive outlook on life.

Even during challenging times, Tonrey said, Rooney "uses humor, follows the path, continues to do the best that he can and lives life with the attitude that everything will all work out.

"It creates a smooth, seamless environment in which things get done, and we take care of business in a way that is calm, thoughtful and respectful."

In Rooney's office, along with photos of his parents, wife, children and grandchildren, there's a red wooden plank on a book shelf. It's a remnant of a seat from the old Shibe Park, later renamed Connie Mack Stadium.

When he was growing up at 20th and Lehigh, his house was across the street from the ballpark that once was home to the Philadelphia Athletics and Phillies.

His father and other men in the neighborhood built bleachers on their roofs and charged people a few cents to get a look at the ballgame without having to buy official tickets.

It was during those years on 20th Street that Rooney saw Athletics baseball greats like Ty Cobb, Lefty Grove and Al Simmons. In his office, next to that red plank, he also has a photograph of the Philadelphia A's 1930 World Series Championship team.

But after a childhood flush with baseball, the real world beckoned. After graduating from Roman Catholic High, Rooney got a job lined up with Atlantic Refinery Co.

"That was supposed to be a good job, with a good pension."

But workers had to be 18 and he was only 17.

So his parents, John and Isabel, decided that they could put enough money together for Jack, the elder of two sons, to go to La Salle for one year. Then, he'd start working at the refinery.

But once he began school, Rooney said, "I got caught up with the idea of college. And I found out that I could make enough money during the summer and Christmas holidays to pay my way."

Though he eventually earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry, Rooney said that it was during his time in the Navy - which he joined after his junior year -that he decided to study psychology.

After returning to La Salle and graduating, Rooney got a job with the Veteran's Administration and was sent to La Salle to encourage students who were veterans to seek counseling from the VA Center if they needed it.

During that visit, La Salle's then-dean, Brother Gregory Paul, offered Rooney a job teaching chemistry.

Rooney had already started graduate courses in psychology at Temple. But Paul encouraged him to teach at La Salle while also pursuing his graduate degrees.

Rooney received master's and doctorate degrees in psychology from Temple, and began teaching psychology at La Salle, eventually becoming an administrator.

Even now, Rooney shows no signs of slowing down.

On Saturday afternoon, following tomorrow night's alumni banquet, Rooney and co-author, John Reardon, another emeritus professor, have a book signing "under the tent" as part of La Salle's homecoming activities.

They recently published "Preparing for College: Practical Advice for Students and Their Families," as a guide for making the college experience more fulfilling.