Knute Rockne Essay, Research Paper

Knute Rockne was the best football coach of his time. He coached Notre Dame s Fighting Irish. His life was cut short by an airplane crash on March 31, 1931, in Chase County, Kansas. His coaching years were portrayed and dedicated to his brilliant career as Notre Dame s head Football Coach. He is the man mostly responsible for making football what it is today. Knute Rockne has been recognized as an ideal football coach. He had everything necessary to be a great coach.

On March 4, 1888, Knute Rockne, was born. He born and grew up in Voss, Norway. Then in 1893 he and his family immigrated to the United States of America, and then was raised in the city of Chicago.

They settled down in Logan Square District in the suburbs of Chicago with their three children.( Rockne, Knute ) Little Knute at the age of five, had a childhood not much different from kids other than his age. All the activities of childhood; football, baseball, occasional fights, young Knute knew it all. A teacher once said: Knute did to have his own way.

Knute had just about two years of school in Voss before coming to America. He then attended Breanto Grammar School in Chicago, Illinois. He would learn quickly ana had a great memory. He was a human sponge, soaking up everything around him. ( Unofficial Homepage ) It only took him two years to catch up with his peers and was to be considered, age for age most brilliant student in school. ( Unofficial Homepage ) He was not only smart but was self motivated.

In his spare time he washed windows for a penny a window at four different schools. He picked beets and corn for ten cents a hour on farms north of Chicago and he also help a part-time job on Lake Michigan Ferry. After school he earned three dollars a week running deliveries for a department store. And he was already American enough to discover the pleasures of switching cows and horses in neighbors barns on Halloween. ( Unofficial Hompage )

When Knute Rockne was 13 years old he was enrolled in Northwest Division Tuley Highschool. Then he got in contact with football, and from then football occupied his time. It took him three hard years as a scrub ( Unofficial Homepage ). Then his last year he made it as a regular on the team.

It was then his plugging and speed that earned him such recognition. His father blamed football for his dropping grades. Then their were frequent phone calls coming from school. Knute s father one day forbid him from football. Even though his father banned him from football he played anyway in the afternoons. Unluckily, Lars had been called to the school and told that Knute either had to start reading or quick school permanently. The following conversation between Knute and his father ended in an agreement that a higher education was out of the question and Knute would rather find himself a job. ( Unofficial Hompage )

Now by the age of 22 Knute Rockne was accepted into Notre Dame. He packed his suitcase containing all of his clothing and personal effects, and with slightly $1,000 dollars, – as a four year stake he took the New York Central Train to South Bend. It was the second week in September and the year was 1910. After a difficult first year scrub with varsity, Rockne turned his attention to track where he earned a monogram and later set a school record (12-4) in the indoor pole vault. Those accomplishments gave him an incentive to give football another chance. This time he succeeded and eventually was named to Walter Camp s All-American football squad as a third-string defensive end. During his senior year (1913) when he served as captain, Rockne and his roommate, quarterback Gus Dorais, stunned Army with their deadly pass combination and handed the high-ranking Cadets a 35 to 13 set back.

Then after his football playing days at Norte Dame University, Knute Rockne was offered a post graduated assistant in chemistry. He accepted the position on the condition that he d be allowed to help coach Jesse Harper coach the football team. When Harper retired, after the 1917 season, Rockne was named his successor. ( Official Athletic Site )

Now During Knute Rockne s Next 13 years of coaching the Fighting Irish, Notre Dame s football standing drastically skyrocket to national recognition. Notre Dame beats Stanford in the 1925 Rose Bowl and put together five unbeaten and untied season. Rockne produced 20 first team All-Americans. His lifetime winning percentage of .881,105 wins, 12 losses, and 5 ties. ( Official Athletic Site ) That is a very impressive stat. Today Knute Rockne s Fighting Irish still rank at the top of the list on all time football greats, for both college and professional football. Rockne won the last 11 games he coached. ( Official Athletic Site ) He also was the first coach to take his team all over the country and initiate intersectional rivalries. Not to mention he design his own equipment for his player. He designed it to reduce the bulkiness and the weight and to improve protectiveness. Also he introduced the gold satin and silk pants to reduce wind resistance. ( Official Athletic Site )

Football is a game played from with arms, legs, and shoulders but mostly from the neck up. A quote from Knute Rockne( Creative Quotations ) Meaning that football is a very physical sport, but in order to win you have to use your head. He was a very smart and talented coach. He knew of different way to get his team to respond. For example, Win One For the Gipper ( The Knute Rockne Website ) It was a famous inspirational speech that Rockne gave to one of his teams at half time when they were down tremendously and all odds were against them. It worked to, they came back and won.

I believe this sums up Knute Rockne perfectly by ( The Unofficial Homepage Of Knute Rockne )

There is an old Chinese proverb that says: You can t speak to much about a a great man by saying to little. For as long as football is played Knute Rockne will be remembered. He was the soul, the heart, the brain of modern football. As the coach of Notre Dame he inspired and molded boys into football armies so mighty they became myth. It was Knute Rockne who made Fighting Irish the team of the people, an the Notre Dame victory march a national sports anthem. No one in the history of American sports left a more stirring legacy of memories among those who him than Knute Rockne.

Works Cited

Creative Quotations from Knute Rockne

26, March 2001

http://bemorecreative.com/one/471.htm

Official Knute Rockne Web Site, The

26, March 2001

http://cmgww.com/football/rockne/gipper.html

Official Site of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish Tradition

26, March 2001

http://und.fansonly.com/trads/rockne.html

Rockne, Knute

26, March 2001

http://library.thinkquest.org/12590/rockne.htm

Unofficial Homepage of Knute Rockne, The

11, April 2001

http://home.no.net/birgerro