The Gipper: George Gipp, Knute Rockne, and the Dramatic Rise of Notre Dame Football

by Jack Cavanaugh

Overview

Win one for The Gipper. Has there ever been a better-known and widely-used exhortative phrase in sports? Not likely. But who was the “Gipper,” this mythical-like sports figure whose nickname has aroused, in turn, awe, wonderment, curiosity, and amusement since the second decade of the twentieth century, and why is his story important? Answering those questions is the formidable task taken on here by veteran sportswriter Jack Cavanaugh, whose Pulitzer Prize-nominated biography of boxing legend Gene Tunney was referred to as “impressively researched and richly detailed” by Sports Illustrated.

More than eight decades after his death, George Gipp is still regarded by football historians as Notre Dame’s best all-around player. And it was Gipp and his legendary coach, Knute Rockne, who were largely responsible for putting the small Midwestern all-male school on the map.

Like Cavanaugh’s other critically acclaimed books, The Gipper is also a period piece, with a considerable focus on the era before, during, and immediately after WWI. It details the changes that the country underwent during that time, including the onset of Prohibition and the gangs that it spawned in the Midwest such as those active in the South Bend area and in nearby Chicago, headed by the notorious Al Capone.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781628731125
Publisher:	Skyhorse
Publication date:	09/10/2010
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	964,448
File size:	5 MB
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

Jack Cavanaugh is a veteran sportswriter whose work has appeared most notably on the sports pages of the New York Times, for which he has covered hundreds of assignments. He is the author of six books, including Tunney (2006), which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, The Gipper (2010), and Season of ’42. He has also written for Sports Illustrated, Reader’s Digest, Golf and Tennis magazines, and a number of other national publications. Cavanaugh also was a reporter for ABC and CBS News, and has been an adjunct professor at Fairfield and Quinnipiac universities, and the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Chapter 1 The Reluctant Dropkicker 6

Chapter 2 The Chance Meeting of a Lifetime 16

Chapter 3 The Pool Shark from Laurium 26

Chapter 4 The Missing Army Inductee 36

Chapter 5 The Beginning of a Legend 49

Chapter 6 Football's Odd Couple 58

Chapter 7 Deadly Flu Pandemic Cuts Short Rockne's First Season 68

Chapter 8 The Fighting Hibernians 80

Chapter 9 Dorais to Rockne and an Upset for the Ages 88

Chapter 10 Sharphooter with a Basketball and a Cue Stick 98

Chapter 11 Gipp's Breakout Season 107

Chapter 12 Head Over Heels in Love 122

Chapter 13 Heartbreak in Indianapolis 137

Chapter 14 The Last Game 160

Chapter 15 Gipp's Fight for Life 172

Chapter 16 A Heartfelt Farewell 184

Chapter 17 The Four Horseman 193

Chapter 18 Win One for The Gipper? 214

Chapter 19 Even Better Than the Horsemen 245

Chapter 20 The End of an Era 258

Epilogue 275

Acknowledgments 280

About the Author 284

Bibliography 285

Index 287

Editorial Reviews

It's not surprising that the more one gets to know George Gipp, the less like a hero he seems. A high school drop-out, he spent much of his time at Notre Dame cutting class, playing semi-pro ball under assumed names, hustling pool, and engaging in high-stakes gambling. Cavanaugh organizes his research well and says what he can about Gipp's personal life, but rightly focuses on the young man's astounding athleticism. Nearly a century on, Gipp still holds the Notre Dame record for most yards per carry in a season, most career total yards for a non-quarterback, and the longest field goal; he never allowed a pass to be completed to the man he was covering (though as teams tended to have few passes per game in those days, this is less impressive than it might seem), and is regarded by most historians as the school's best all-around player. His death in 1920 at the age of 25 (having never completely recovered from the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918) leaves Cavanaugh to fill out his effort with stories of Coach Rockne and Notre Dame's colorful early football days, all placed into the larger context of a country dealing with great tragedies.
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Publishers Weekly

For Notre Dame fans especially—and there remain many of those—this is an entertaining look at one of college football’s enduring heroes.

Booklist

President Reagan's political rallying cry, "Win one for the Gipper," originated in his portrayal of star Notre Dame halfback George Gipp in the 1940 biopic Knute Rockne, All American and thence became a part of American cultural literacy. But what of Gipp himself? He was arguably one of the three greatest football players of the early 20th century along with Jim Thorpe and Red Grange, but Gipp is the least well known of the trio, so sportswriter Cavanaugh's (Tunney) treatment meets a glaring need. The problem is that Gipp was a reticent loner who died 90 years ago at the age of 25. Fortunately, Cavanaugh was able to draw on several interviews he conducted 30 years ago with many of Gipp's teammates and contemporaries while he was writing a magazine piece. He has supplemented those with further interviews with descendants and additional research to create as full a picture of Gipp as is likely to emerge. Still, the book is as much about coach Knute Rockne and Notre Dame football as it is about Gipp, whose short, colorful life was marked by a propensity to spend more time drinking and gambling than attending class. VERDICT A welcome resource on a legendary figure, also giving a valuable depiction of a fabled coach and the start of a college football dynasty.—John Maxymuk, Rutgers Univ. Lib., Camden, NJ

Library Journal