“Win one for the gipper.”
It’s a phrase that I’ve often heard, usually used in the context of sports. Who is this “gipper”? Why should I win one for him?
Wow, thanks, Bill H. That questions been bugging me for years. I post it up here and get an answer in a minute. I love this place.
That’s a sad story. Gipp was like the college football version of The Natural. After reading Gipp’s story, I followed this link at the bottom of the page for the story behind the phrase, “Win one for the Gipper.”
Man, it’s the stuff of movies…
Thanks again.
Um, I read an article not too long ago that said George Gipp didn’t die-he just has a bad tooth.
He was still alive in the 80s.
Huh. Maybe the article I read was wrong. Who knows?
Okay, never mind, I looked it up on the web-perhaps I was wrong.
The magazine wasn’t exactly a big fan of Reagan… The Nation, so it could’ve been propaganda.
I’m reasonably certain that George Gipp is no longer with us. He would be pretty old if he were still alive.
Gipp was like Roy Hobbes in that he was a flawed hero. He wasn’t exactly known for his clean living and I’ve read stories that he gambled on Notre Dame games, although such things were not that unusual in that era.
Bill H’s source makes a lot of amazing claims about the Gipper.
One that struck me was that he could apparently run the 100 (I assume yards) wearing full football costume in 10.2 seconds.
This was in 1919 - so what was the Olympic record then?
The Olympic record for 100 METERS was 10.8 and Charles Paddock equalled that mark in 1920. In 1924 Harold Abrahams (Chariots of Fire) and all that ran 10.6.
10.2 for 100 yards is pretty fast even today, but I would think that the world record for yards was around that time.
Remember that everything in this era was handtimed and it’s likely that Gipp was timed by just one guy with a stopwatch so it might not be the most accurate measure.
Originally posted by Bob T:
The Olympic record for 100 METERS was 10.8 and Charles Paddock equalled that mark in 1920. In 1924 Harold Abrahams (Chariots of Fire) and all that ran 10.6.
10.2 for 100 yards is pretty fast even today, but I would think that the world record for yards was around that time.
Remember that everything in this era was handtimed and it’s likely that Gipp was timed by just one guy with a stopwatch so it might not be the most accurate measure.
And Paddock and Abrahams weren’t timed by a guy with a stopwatch?
In the movie “The Knute Rockne Story” George Gipp was played by Ronald Reagan, which is why he was referred to as “The Gipper”. There was apparently no football feat that Gipp was not capable of doing. Kinda like Joe Montana in the last two minutes of a legendary game, but able to play any position.
Some people believe that Knute Rockne was just making up an inspirational story on the spot when he told the team that George Gipp had said on his death bed that he should tell the team to “win one for the Gipper.” They say that it didn’t sound like something George Gipp would say. In any case, we don’t have any evidence except for Rockne’s word about whether it’s true.
You know, Ronald Reagan asked the same question the other day…
Here’s some more extraneous information. It’s regarding the George Gipp Memorial in Laurium, MI (his hometown), in the UP. A friend of mine is one of the contacts, so if you wanna give some cash, tell 'em Munch sent ya!
Guinastasia: you didn’t really think ANYBODY at the Nation knows anything about football, did you?
Gipp was real, and he did die young. Now, he wasn’t the plaster saint of legend. He was a gambler, and a semi-professional who leaped from college to semi-pro team to college to semi-pro team, making big money, frequently under assumed names.
That was a fairly common practice in those days. LOTS of well-known college athletes played professionally under phony names, and only a few dumb or unlucky ones got caught (like poor Jim Thorpe, who would never have lost his Olympic medals if he’d been cynical enough to play pro baseball under an alias, instead of using his real name).
A few athletes actually became more famous under their phony names than their real names- look at NFL Hall of Famer Johnny Blood (real name John McNally).
Now, whether George Gipp REALLY gave any touching deathbed speeches, as Knute Rockne claimed in his locker room pep talks, we’ll never know. Only Gipp and Rockne know the truth, and they’re both dead! Still, while it’s a great story, it DOES sound a little hokey, and I don’t blame any cynic who’s inclined to dismiss it as sentimental hogwash, made up by Rockne to inspire his players.
snort
I will now flagellate myself for laughing at this. Alzheimer’s disease is no laughing matter.*
*This has been a Public Service Announcement.
They were timed by many guys with many stopwatches, who were professional timers or at least skilled enough to time the Olympics.
Gipp was most likely timed by an assistant coach.