Notes: Brown, Lewis head Bengals contingent to Rooney funeral; PBS hosts local prospects

Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis worked for Dan Rooney for four years. Bengals president Mike Brown and his children, accompanied by head coach Marvin Lewis, attended Steelers owner Dan Rooney’s funeral Tuesday in Pittsburgh. Bengals executive vice president Katie Blackburn and vice president/ player personnel Paul Brown joined their father to pay respects to the boss of their long-time division rival. Rooney, 84, and Mike Brown were friends for more than 60 years in a relationship that stretched back to the days Brown’s father Paul coached Cleveland in the embryonic stages of the Browns-Steelers rivalry.Lewis, a Pittsburgh native, first worked in the NFL for Rooney’s Steelers when rookie head coach Bill Cowher hired him to coach linebackers in 1992. LOCAL STORY: The Bengals held their local workout Tuesday at Paul Brown Stadium in the run-up to the April 27-29 NFL Draft and one of their favorite sons had to watch. Keith Rucker Jr., a two-time All-Sun Belt tight end at Georgia State, surfaced on crutches after finding out last week that he played his senior year on a broken foot. Rucker, the son of former Bengals defensive tackle Keith Rucker who starred at Moeller High School, caught 32 balls last season and that included six at No. 9 Wisconsin. After making the John Mackey Award mid-season watch list for best tight end in the nation, he finished in the top six on Georgia State’s all-time list for catches, receiving yards and TDs. The 6-2, 241-pound Rucker has options. He’s finishing his degree in speech communications with minors in hospitality and marketing and has at least one internship opportunity in Atlanta. But he’s hopeful to be healthy enough in five weeks or so to show teams he belongs in a camp. His father, who played with the Bengals in 1994-95, has remained a familiar figure in college and high school coaching circles and begins a stint this year coaching the defensive line at Cincinnati’s LaSalle High School. Rucker was on the field Tuesday and later confirmed he never coached his son at any level. “Never my kids,” he said with a laugh. Here’s a list of the players who joined Rucker on the invite list. In order to be invited they had to play high school or college ball within a local region dictated by the NFL: * -OT Jacob Bennett, Bowling Green (Lebanon HS)* * --C Deyshawn Bond, Cincinnati* * --WR Nate Cole, Cincinnati* * --DT Rodderick Darden, Thomas More* * --TE DJ Dowdy, Cincinnati* * --S Zach Edwards, Cincinnati (Middletown HS)* * --DE Austin Gearing, Miami-Ohio (Bishop Fenwick HS)* * --OT Larson Graham, Duquesne (Wyoming HS)* * --HB Tion Green, Cincinnati* * --P Cameron Johnston, Ohio State * * --DE/LB JT Jones, Miami-Ohio* * --QB Gunner Kiel, Cincinnati (Columbus East HS)* * --DT Izaah Lunsford, Bowling Green (Shroder Paideia HS)* * --WR Monty Madaris, Michigan State (Moeller HS)* * --CB Brandon Neal, Thomas More (Lakota West HS)* * --LB Marcus Oliver, Indiana (Hamilton HS)* * --DT Alex Pace, Cincinnati* * --G Idarius Ray, Cincinnati* * --TE Keith Rucker, Georgia State (Moeller HS)* * --WR Sam Shisso, Miami-Ohio* * --C Joe Spencer, Illinois (Mason HS)* * --WR Dwayne Stanford, Oregon (Taft HS)* * --DT Sione Tongamoa, Cincinnati* * --QB Patrick Towles, Boston College (Highlands HS)* * --G Dylan Wiesman, Tennessee (Colerain HS)* * --WR Rokeem Williams, Miami-Ohio* * --WR Dontre Wilson, Ohio State* * --LB Eric Wilson, Cincinnati* * --G De’Arius Young, South Alabama (Princeton HS)*