Chapter 10

The Tale of the Gipper

Pre-game pep talks is so common today that neither the sportsmen nor the people on the outside give it any second thought. The coaches and

the teams have different ways of doing this, which in most cases takes the form of a ritual. The team  members can be compared to warriors  preparing for an important fight with a neighboring tribe.

The coaches give their team an emotional message to make them perform better in the competition. Not all of them succeed, because they do not understand that this is a

technique to be used only under certain circumstances. The magical power of the pre-game pep talk should be saved for crucial moments, or else it will lose its effect. This is well illustrated by the occasion that coined the phrase, "win one for the Gipper ".

George Gipp was one of the greatest all-round player in the history of college football and his career mark of 2,341 rushing yards was unbeaten from 1920

to 1978!

He was elected to the National Football Hall of Fame in 1951. But his death on December 14, 1920 has given him a place in the history of football. He died from a

throat infection contracted during a football match, and on his deathbed he made this plea to his coach, Knute Rockne.

" 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".

With his successful Notre Dame team he lost less than one game per season for a spell of 13 years. It was not until the 1928 season that Rockne's team and some of Gipp's old

team-mates were facing dramatic setbacks. After losing two of its first six games, an injury-ridden Notre Dame was to meet unbeaten Army at Yankee Stadium. Then Rockne found that the time was ripe to pass on Gipp's parting request to his team, and he made this pre-game speech.

" The day before he died, George Gipp asked me to wait until the situation seemed hopeless - then ask a Notre Dame team to go out and beat Army for him. This is the

day, and you are the team".

History has it that Notre Dame won the game 12 - 6 after one of the greatest demonstrations of inspired football ever played anywhere. When Jack Chevigny reached the end zone, scoring the first points, he said, "That's one for the Gipper!"

The tale of the Gipper has been told for more than 70 years and will be retold not only to aspiring football players, but members of all team sports every time they are facing

unbeatable opposition. As Knute Rockne and all other outstanding coaches know, it has to be saved for special  occasions to keep its magic.