George Gipp
Template:Short description Template:Redirect Template:Distinguish Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox college football player George Gipp (February 18, 1895 – December 14, 1920), nicknamed "the Gipper", was an American college football player at the University of Notre Dame under head coach Knute Rockne.<ref name=latgmm>Template:Cite news</ref> Gipp was selected as Notre Dame's first Walter Camp All-American<ref name=sdcfwgrm>Template:Cite news</ref> and played several positions, particularly halfback, quarterback, and punter.
Gipp died at age 25 of a streptococcal throat infection and pneumonia<ref name="wbbthu">Template:Cite newsTemplate:Deadlink</ref> three weeks after a victory over Northwestern in his senior season<ref name=sivelsgpp>Template:Cite magazine</ref> and was the subject of Rockne's "Win just one for the Gipper" speech. In the 1940 film Knute Rockne, All American, he was portrayed by Ronald Reagan.
College career
Born and raised in Laurium, Michigan, on the Keweenaw Peninsula in the Upper Peninsula,<ref name=latgmm/> Gipp entered Notre Dame intending to play baseball for the Fighting Irish. While on campus, he was recruited by Rockne for the football team despite having no experience in organized football.<ref name="ND Gipp Profile">Template:Cite web</ref>
During his Notre Dame career, Gipp led the Irish in rushing and passing each of his last three seasons (1918, 1919, and 1920).<ref name="ND Gipp Profile"/> His career mark of 2,341 rushing yards lasted over fifty years until Jerome Heavens broke it Template:Nowrap Gipp was also an excellent Template:Nowrap and threw for 1,789 Template:Nowrap
Gipp scored 21 career touchdowns, averaged 38 yards a punt, and gathered five interceptions as well as averaging 14 yards per punt return and 22 yards per kick return in four seasons Template:Nowrap Gipp is still Notre Dame's all-time leader in average yards per rush for a season (8.1), career average yards per play of total offense (9.37), and career average yards per game of total offense (128.4).<ref>University of Notre Dame Official Athletic Site</ref>
Death
Gipp died December 14, 1920, two weeks after being selected Notre Dame's first All-American by Walter Camp<ref name=sdcfwgrm/><ref name=srwxaa>Template:Cite news</ref> and second consensus All-American Template:Nowrap (after Gus Dorais).
A popular but apocryphal account of Gipp's death begins when he returned to Notre Dame's campus after curfew from a night out. Unable to gain entrance to his residence, Gipp went to the rear door of Washington Hall, the campus' theatre building. He was a steward for the building and knew the rear door was often unlocked. Gipp often spent such nights in the hall. On that night, however, the door was locked, and Gipp was forced to sleep outside. As a result of that night, Gipp contracted pneumonia and eventually died from a related infection. <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
It is more likely that Gipp contracted strep throat and pneumonia while giving punting lessons after his final game, November 20 against Northwestern.Template:CN Since antibiotics were not available in the 1920s, treatment options for such infections were limited.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Gipp's hometown of Laurium built a memorial in his honor; he is buried in Lake View Cemetery near West Tamarack, Michigan. <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
"Win just one for the Gipper"
It was from his hospital bed that Gipp was alleged to have said to<ref name="Keyes 2006">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=letpub>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Template:Nowrap:
- "I've got to go, Rock. It's all right. I'm not afraid. Some time, Rock, when the team is up against it, when things are wrong 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."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Rockne used the story of Gipp, along with this deathbed line that he attributed to Gipp, to rally his team to a Template:Nowrap upset of the previously undefeated Army team in 1928, with Jack Chevigny scoring the "that's one for the Gipper"Template:Clarify tying touchdown at Yankee Stadium.<ref name=srapahbnd>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=mlsen28>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Dead link</ref>
The phrase "Win one for the Gipper" was later used as a political slogan by Ronald Reagan, who in 1940 portrayed Gipp in Knute Rockne, All American and was often referred to as "The Gipper". At the Republican National Convention in 1988 in New Orleans, he told Vice President Bush, "George, go out there and win one for the Gipper."<ref name=dllahrh>Template:Cite news</ref> The term was also used by President George W. Bush at the 2004 convention in New York City when he honored the recently deceased President Reagan by stating, "this time we can truly win one for the Gipper." The Republicans won both presidential elections.
Exhumation
On October 4, 2007, Gipp's body was exhumed for DNA testing to determine if he had fathered a child out of wedlock with an 18-year-old high school student. The right femur was removed and the rest of the remains were reburied the same day. A sports author who was present at the exhumationTemplate:Who? said it was requested by Rick Frueh, the grandson of one of Gipp's sisters.<ref>COLLEGE FOOTBALL: George Gipp's body is exhumed for DNA testing - International Herald Tribune</ref>
The tests showed that he was not the father of the child who was born within days of Gipp's Template:Nowrap Other Gipp relatives claimed in a subsequent lawsuit that the exhumation was conducted in an improper manner and under questionable circumstances.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The lawsuit was subsequently Template:Nowrap
Honors
- Gipp was voted into the College Football Hall of Fame (located in Atlanta, GA) on December 14, 1951, at 3:27 a.m., in memory of the time and date of his death.
- George Gipp Memorial Park was dedicated on August 3, 1935, in his hometown. A plaque kept in the park lists former George Gipp Award-winners, given to outstanding senior male athletes from Calumet High School.
- Template:Libship honor
- He was ranked #22 on ESPN's Top 25 Players In College Football History list.<ref>25 Greatest Players In College Football - College Football - ESPN</ref>
- The "Gipper" (GIP) VOR which serves the South Bend area is named in his honor.
Statistics
In 2002, the NCAA published "NCAA Football's Finest," researched and compiled by the NCAA Statistics Service.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> For Gipp they published the following statistics:
| Year | Carries | Rushing yards |
Average | Passing attempts |
Completions | Passing yards |
Interceptions Thrown |
Interceptions Caught |
TD | XP | FG | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1917 | 63 | 244 | 3.9 | 8 | 3 | 40 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1918 | 98 | 541 | 5.5 | 45 | 19 | 293 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 43 |
| 1919 | 106 | 729 | 6.9 | 72 | 41 | 727 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 49 |
| 1920 | 102 | 827 | 8.1 | 62 | 30 | 709 | 9 | 1 | 8 | 16 | 0 | 64 |
| Total | 369 | 2,341 | 6.3 | 187 | 93 | 1,769 | 16 | 5 | 21 | 27 | 1 | 156 |
References
Further reading
- One For The Gipper-George Gipp, Knute Rockne and Notre Dame, Patrick Chelland. Panoply Publications, 298 pp., 2008. Template:ISBN
- Gipp at Notre Dame-The Untold Story, Emil Klosinski. Publish America, 278 pp., 2003. Template:ISBN
- The Life and Times of George Gipp, George Gekas. And Books, 219pp., April 1988. Template:ISBN
- The Gipper: George Gipp, Knute Rockne, and the Dramatic Rise of Notre Dame Football, Jack Cavanaugh. Skyhorse Publishing, 320 pages., September 2010. Template:ISBN
External links
- Pages with broken file links
- 1895 births
- 1920 deaths
- American football drop kickers
- American football halfbacks
- American football punters
- Notre Dame Fighting Irish football players
- Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's basketball players
- All-American college football players
- College Football Hall of Fame inductees
- People from Laurium, Michigan
- Players of American football from Houghton County, Michigan
- American men's basketball players
- Deaths from pneumonia in Indiana
- Deaths from streptococcus infection
- 20th-century American sportsmen