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The Great Knute Rockne

Page history last edited by RobertR 14 years, 11 months ago

Introduction

The mark that Knute Rockne left on the game of football is immeasurable. He aided in the development of the forward pass and in doing so helped inrease football's mass appeal. Using his knowledge of the human anatomy, Rockne was keen on designing his own equipment. Understanding the importance that speed plays in the game of football, his designs reduced bulk and weight without sparing protectiveness. He also introduced to the Notre Dame uniform a pair of gold, satin and silk pants that cut down on wind resistance. His true innovation to the game of football exemplifies the American Dream of the 1920s. Not only did he leave a mark on football, he is an inspiration to everyone.

What is Football?

Football historians, those who have studied the game and its origins, place the game’s beginnings in rugby, an English game played with many similarities to football. Rugby began in eighteen twenty-three at the famous Rugby Boys’ School in England. Another cousin of the game of football is soccer; its beginnings can also be traced to English origin, being played as early as the eighteen twenties. At the same time, a group of students at Princeton began playing what was then known as ‘ballown’. First using their fists to advance the ball, and then their feet, this game consisted mainly of one goal: to advance the ball past the opposing team. There were no hard and fast rules applied to this earliest attempt at the game we now call football.

Soon after the end of the American Civil War, around eighteen sixty five, colleges began organizing football games. In eighteen sixty seven, Princeton led the way in establishing some rudimentary rules of the game. Also in that year, the football itself was patented for the very first time.

Knute Rockne

Fast Facts

Birth name: Knute Kenneth Rockne

Occupation: College football coach

Birth place: Voss, Norway

Birth date: March 4, 1888

Death date: March 31, 1931

Death place: Bazaar, Kan.

Burial location: Highland Cemetery, South Bend, Ind.

Biography

As Notre Dame's head coach from 1918 to 1930, Rockne set the greatest all-time winning percentage of .881. This mark still ranks at the top of the list for both college and professional football. During his 13-years as head coach of the Fighting Irish, Rockne collected 105 victories, 12 losses, five ties and six national championships. He also coached Notre Dame to five undefeated seasons without a tie.

Rockne was known as one of the most innovative and charismatic coaches of his era. He was the first football coach to initiate intersectional rivalries and build a national schedule. He is well known for coaching the most dazzling, dramatic, idolized athlete of all time, George "Gipper" Gipp. Gipp's running, passing, kicking and generalship lifted the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to national fame. Gipp was Notre Dame's first All-American and the famous subject of Rockne's motivating halftime speech in which he coined the phrase, "Win one for the Gipper."

Rockne also coached the "Four Horsemen" - a small but talented Notre Dame backfield that consisted of Harry Stuhldreher, Don Miller, Jim Crowley and Elmer Layden. Together, Rockne and the "Four Horsemen" led Notre Dame to a 28-2 record.

During the off season, Rockne was needed in Los Angeles to assist in the production of the film "The Spirit of Notre Dame." After visiting his two sons in Kansas City , Mo. , Rockne boarded Transcontinental-Western's Flight 599 to Los Angeles on March 31, 1931. Shortly after takeoff, one of the plane's wings separated in flight and the aircraft plummeted into a wheat field near Bazaar, Kan. There were no survivors. Rockne was 43 years old.

Achievements

In 13 years as the head of Notre Dame, Rockne lost just 12 games.
Notre Dame won the national championship in 1919, 1920, 1924, 1929 and 1930.
Was posthumously inducted into the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame in 1951.
Best known for his "Win one for the Gipper" speech at Notre Dame in 1928.
In 1999 he was named one of the greatest coaches on "ESPN SportCentury."

Quotes By Knute Rockne

"The morning we left South Bend, every student and professor was out of bed long before breakfast and marched downtown accompanying the team to the railroad station. It was the first time I'd seen anything like this mass hysteria generated on the Notre Dame campus over a football game."
I'd run along the beach, Dorais would throw from all angles. People who didn't know (that) we were two college seniors making painstaking preparations for our final season probably thought we were crazy."
"Build up your weaknesses until they become your strong points."
"Let's win one for the Gipper."
"No star playing, just football."
"One man practicing sportsmanship is far better than fifty preaching it."
"Show me a good and gracious loser and I'll show you a failure."
"Win or lose, do it fairly."
"The Army halfback covering me almost yawned in my face, he was that bored."
"Everybody seemed astonished. There had been no hurdling, no tackling, no plunging, no crushing....just a long distance touchdown by rapid transit."
"The best thing I ever learned in life was that things have to be worked for. A lot of people seem to think there is some sort of magic in making a winning football team. There isn't, but there's plenty of work."
"I've found that prayers work best when you have big players."

Videos and More

http://www.motivationalmagic.com/speeches/Knute%20Rockne%20-%20Famous%20Lockerroom%20Speach%20-%20Notre%20Dame%20Football/index.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQ5YiQqrZCk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIHNUt1gw7A&feature=related

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6911084782131332621

George Gipp

His Legacy

Acclaimed for his football prowess and natural athletic talent, it is undoubtedly the parting words to his coach that fuels his legend. As lore has it these words were spoken from his deathbed:

"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 -- tell 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."

As Gipp requested, these words were used to inspire “the boys” in the November 1928 game against Army, and they did “Win one for the Gipper.”

Sources

http://www.youtube.com/

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&rlz=1T4DKUS_enUS280US282&q=notre+dame+football+highlights

http://images.google.com/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi

http://www.motivationalmagic.com/speeches/pics/KnuteRockne.jpg

http://www.knuterockne.com/