UPside of Life: Let's win this one for the Gipper

Everyone knows who The Gipper is, though, unfortunately, many people seem to think that he was President Ronald Reagan, who was nicknamed so after portraying the real-life man in the movie Knute Rockne, All American.

George "The Gipper" Gipp was best known for being a member of the University of Notre Dame football team and for tragically dying Dec. 14, 1920, at the age of 25 during his senior year. The Gipper, it just so happened, was also a Yooper.

The Gipper was born in Laurium, on the Keweenaw Peninsula, and attended Calumet High School. His sport of choice was baseball, which was how he ended up in the halls of Notre Dame. There, he was noticed by legendary coach Knute Rockne, who convinced him to come out for the football team.

Gipp excelled at the sport, despite never having played it before, and went on to become Notre Dame's first All-American selection. He played several positions, including halfback, quarterback and punter. To this day, he is considered to be one of the most capable athletes to play the game.

Gipp--who's honors include being a member of the College Football Hall of Fame, having a memorial park named after him in Laurium, having a ship named after him during World War II and being ranked on ESPN's Top 25 Players in College Football History List--will most likely be less remembered through the ages for his life, and more for his death and what followed.

At the age of 25, Gipp died of an infection, just two weeks after his All-American selection. The old story goes that Gipp returned to the dorms after curfew following a night on the town and was unable to gain entrance to his residence hall. He tried the back door, to no avail, before opting to hunker down for the night on a nearby bench. By morning, he had contracted pneumonia and eventually died from a related infection. In the 1920s, antibiotics were not yet available, making treatment for such infections limited and potentially fatal.

While on his hospital bed, The Gipper was visited by Coach Rockne. It was then he is said to have stepped into immortality.

George Gipp asked his coach to have Notre Dame win just one more for him.

"I've got to go, Rock," The Gipper said. "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."

Rockne did just that, telling the story to his team as they trailed an undefeated Army team in 1928. The team rallied, winning one for The Gipper in front of a packed house at Yankee Stadium.

Gipp is buried here in the Upper Peninsula in Lake View Cemetery in Calumet.

Sam Eggleston is the managing editor of the U.P. Second Wave and a full-time freelance writer. He was born and raised in the Upper Peninsula. He's always had a soft spot for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish since he was just a child. Eggleston can be reached via email.