Win One For The Gipper
07-12-2007 08:38 |
[Photo of George Gipp. Bettman/Corbis]
A lot of people, especially those under 40, often ask where the saying "Win One For the Gipper" came from. We'd be remiss if we didn't try to shed a little light on that famous phrase.
The "Gipper", George Gipp of Michigan, was recruited by Knute Rockne (a famous Notre Dame football coach) to play football, despite having no experience playing organized football. Gipp excelled at the game, and during his Notre Dame career, rushed for 2,341 yards and threw for 1,789. Sports commentators still regard Gipp as one of the most versatile players in college football history - Gipp scored 83 career touchdowns, averaged 38 yards a punt, and gathered 5 interceptions as well as 14 yards per punt return and 22 yards per kick return in his four years of play with the Fighting Irish. He also held the school rushing record for more than 50 years.
Gipp died early in his life, on December 14, 1920, as a result of pneumonia and a strep infection. It was on his hospital bed that he supposedly gave his legendary, "win one for the Gipper" line to his coach, . The full quotation that gave rise to this saying follows:
"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." [emphasis added].
Rockne used the story of Gipp, along with this deathbed line attributed to Gipp, to rally his team to achieve an underdog victory over the undefeated Army football team of 1928 at Yankee Stadium.
"Win one for the Gipper" was later popularized by actor and former President, Ronald Reagan, who in 1940 portrayed Gipp in the movie Knute Rockne, All American and was often referred to as "The Gipper". Reagan's most well-known use of the phrase was at the Republican National Convention in 1988 when he told then VP George Bush, Sr. "George, go out there and win one for the Gipper." |
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