Trivia and Quotes
Quotes
 Knute, Age 7: Poppa, don`t talk Norwegian, talk American. We`re all Americans now, especially me. I`m left end.
Committee Member: Mr. Rockne, couldn`t football be replaced by some other game? Something less violent?
Knute Rockne: Well, what game would you suggest?
Committee Member: Well, hockey, for instance.
[This answer is greeted by raucous laughter in the committee room]
Knute Rockne: Why, as a matter of fact, I suggested that very idea to Father Callahan, our president. He was downright interested until we came to the use of sticks, and then he threw up his hands. He said, "No... , that game is not for our university. Notre Dame will never endorse any game that puts a club in the hands of an Irishman."
Knute Rockne: We haven`t got any use for gamblers around here. You`ve done your best to ruin baseball, and horse racing, and this is one game that`s clean and is gonna stay clean.
Knute Rockne: Father, I`ve decided to take up coaching as my life`s work.
Father John Callahan: Hmmmm.
Knute Rockne: You think I`m making a mistake, don`t you?
Father John Callahan: Anyone who follows the truth in his heart never makes a mistake.
Father John Callahan: Who can say for certain what a man was really born to be? That`s God`s will. Someday Knute will find his right place in the world, and when he does, whether it be science or not, I have a feeling it will be the one he was meant to do.
George Gipp: Win one for the Gipper!
Knute Rockne: Now I`m going to tell you something I`ve kept to myself for years. None of you ever knew George Gipp. He was long before your time, but you all know what a tradition he is at Notre Dame. And the last thing he said to me, "Rock," he said, "sometime when the team is up against it and the breaks are beating the boys, tell them to go out there with all they`ve got and win just one for the Gipper. I don`t know where I`ll be then, Rock," he said, "but I`ll know about it and I`ll be happy."
Trivia
Reagan once said of his role that though there were those who could`ve played it better, nobody wanted the role more than he did.
A 1931 Universal film "The Spirit of Notre Dame" was also based on Rockne`s life.
Lloyd Bacon replaced director William K. Howard, who was discharged over a disagreement with the studio. Reportedly he wanted Rockne to convert to Catholicism in the film.
O`Brien, Reagen, and Crisp recreated their roles for a 12/2/40 episode of Lux Theater, but Gale Page`s part was enacted by Fay Wray.
Elmer Layden eventually became the first to have the title Commisioner of the NFL after leaving his coaching job at Notre Dame in the 1940`s.
The unnamed disease that kills George Gipp is actually complications from strep throat.
The movie`s line "Tell `em to go out there with all they got and win just one for the Gipper." was voted as the #89 movie quote by the American Film Institute (out of 100).
The football history portrayed in the movie plays fast and loose with a key element of college gridiron development. The film depicts Rockne developing the forward pass in the `teens, as an undergraduate at Notre Dame. But the forward pass was legalized and used during the 1906 football season.
One of only two movies to be filmed on the University of Notre Dame campus. The other was Rudy (1993).
James Cagney, eager to break out of gangster roles, lobbied hard for the part of Knute Rockne. But Cagney had signed a petition in support of the anti-Catholic Republican government in the Spanish Civil War. Notre Dame University had control over all aspects of the filming and would not okay Cagney for the role.
William Holden, John Wayne, Robert Young, and Robert Cummings were considered for the role of George Gipp, but only Dennis Morgan and Ronald Reagan tested for it, with Morgan having the edge until the last minute.
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