Win One For The Gipper

[Hostile]

"Win one for the Gipper."

We've all heard this phrase most likely. Sadly so many will know it without knowing the background and story behind it. No one knows if the story is true or not. It doesn't matter. It has etched itself in football lore forever because of what happened after the speech.

George Gipp was the first All American in the History of Notre Dame football. He played QB, Halfback and was the Notre Dame Punter too. Legend has it he was also a DB and never allowed a completion. Many of his records at Notre Dame still stand, including a rushing average of 8.1 yards per carry.

Two weeks after he was named as Notre Dame's first All American he died at the age of 25 from strep throat. Amazing to know how far medicine has advanced isn't it? But this was back in 1920 and any type of infection was deadly. Penicillin was not discovered until 8 years after his death.

Legend has it that Knute Rockne, his coach at Notre Dame and the man often attributed with perfecting the forward pass, visited him in the hospital before he died.

Also 8 years after Gipp's death Knute Rockne's Notre Dame Fighting Irish were in a battle with Army at Yankee Stadium. At halftime he is alleged to have delivered his famous speech. The exact words are not known but the movie "Knute Rockne, All American" portrayed them like this.

Knute Rockne in a wheel chair: "Well boys, I haven't a thing to say. Played a great game. All of you."

(smile)

"I guess we just can't expect to win 'em all."

"I'm going to tell you something I've kept to myself for years. None of you ever knew George Gipp. It was long before your time. But you know what a tradition he is at Notre Dame. And the last thing that he said to me was "Rock, I've got to go Rock. It's all right. I'm not afraid. Sometime when the team is up against it and the breaks are beating the boys, ask them to go in there with all they've got and win just one for the Gipper. I don't know where I'll be then Rock. But I'll know about it, and I'll be happy."

There is silence as the Notre Dame players all look at each other and their coach. With the words "all right" he is wheeled out of the dressing room back to the field.

A Notre Dame player wearing #12 says: "Well, what are we waiting for?"

Notre Dame won the game on a last minute TD run by Jack Chevigny.

 

[JakeCamp12]

Great stuff as usual Hos...

 

[cowboyeric8]

Thanks for telling me this Hos, I didn't know the story of the Gipper, I knew the story of that speech thanks to Rudy.

 

[Hostile]

Thanks for telling me this Hos, I didn't know the story of the Gipper, I knew the story of that speech thanks to Rudy.

This is the speech in Rudy.

[youtube]NmY7ttVNiWo[/youtube]

 

[cowboyeric8]

This is the speech in Rudy.

Oh shoot, major fail on my part. Is there a movie where they use the other speech? I know I've heard it.

 

[Hostile]

Oh shoot, major fail on my part. Is there a movie where they use the other speech? I know I've heard it.

They parody it in Airplane.

 

[burmafrd]

Knute Rockne All American was the movie.

No one knows for sure. Rockne and Gip were alone in the room. And Rockne was an absolute MASTER at mental manipulation to get the players to perform above their limits. I have always thought that it was probably not true.

But as it was said in "The Man who Shot Liberty Valance"

"When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."

 

[Future]

Oh shoot, major fail on my part. Is there a movie where they use the other speech? I know I've heard it.

It's in Rudy too...or at least in part. He reads it on a plaque in the Notre Dame locker room when he's working with the janitor.

 

[Hostile]

It's in Rudy too...or at least in part. He reads it on a plaque in the Notre Dame locker room when he's working with the janitor.

I think you are right. I was thinking only of the speech.

 

[GimmeTheBall!]

This is the speech in Rudy.

[youtube]NmY7ttVNiWo[/youtube]

I was thinking: What if Jason made that speech in that cadence. Pretty funny image.

Them players look to be in their mid 30s.

 

[juck]

This is Cowboy related. lol

 

[DallasEast]

This is Cowboy related. lol

It's more closely related than your signature image.

 

[Hostile]

This is Cowboy related. lol

Actually there is a tie to the Cowboys but I doubt you could figure out what it is.

 

[SaltwaterServr]

Read a little on Gipp via a paper when I was Tech from a football player who did the research on him. Interesting piece. Not a bit of it do you see on his wikipedia page, might I add.

Gipp was supposedly hired by Notre Dame as a player to improve their football program and was in competition with a few other powerhouses at the time for his services. Notre Dame won out, and Gipp signed with them. The actual salary was recorded and the paper mentioned it.

The story the player submitted is distinctly at odds with what is popular culture. The paper cited that Gipp was returning to his dorm from a ***** house/speakeasy and passed out in the snow. It was the first year of prohibition IIRC. That's how he contracted pneumonia. Passed out drunk on the side of the road, in the gutter if you will.

Does anyone really believe that a guy sat in the snow overnight, outside his dorm, and didn't bang the living crap out of windows to get someone to let him in as is the popular retelling?

 

[burmafrd]

Back in that time period so called amateur status and the like was pretty much ignored; there were not many rules and as I recall nothing like the NCAA to keep watch on them. Now Rockne was one of the coaches that insisted his players go to class; most of the top coaches of that time were that way. He always said that dumb players were more trouble then they were worth; and back then there was no real money in pro football; baseball was the only pro sport that actually paid its players anything. I have no doubt that a lot said about Gipp was revisionist back then; but the same could be said now as well. Not really much of a chance for anyone to really know what happened. Even the sportswriters of that time were loth to put out anything bad about the really good players. So finding real evidence one way or another is very hard. So someone claiming to have done research I would be just as skeptical as reading what Grantland Rice had to say.

 

[HoosierCowboy]

I live in South Bend and live with all the ND crap--great story but like most things ND (even today), it's twisted and overrated

 

[cowboyed]

I love old black and white sports film clips and I had to crack up. As the rousing speech ensued the young player on the bottom right behind the coach looks like a zombie. You can only see the whites of his eyes, his mouth is frozen, he doesn't even swallow.

The players all wore what I assume were team colors. Were the long sleeve tops brown or blue. What is a striking reminder is the evolving even migrating culture of language and speaking. Every decade it changes subtly. Then when you see some very old film the cumulative years or decades show the stark difference in how folks communicated as compared today.