Knute Rockne, All American

Knute Rockne, All American, is a film made in 1940 about the legendary Notre Dame Fighting Irish football coach. Rockne is largely considered to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest college football coach of all time. The film stars Pat O’Brien, Ronald Reagan, Gale Page, Donald Crisp, Albert Bassermann, Owen Davis Jr., Nick Lukats, Kane Richmond, William Marshall and William Byrne.

The “Win one for the Gipper” speech in the film goes like this:
“The last thing George 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.’

Ronald Regan gives the films most famous performance, portraying the character George Gipp, otherwise knows as “The Gipper.” After the film, Ronald Regan was nicknamed “The Gipper” as well, often humorously citing the role in speeches. In fact, two different Republican National Conventions used the phrase, including the 2004 Convention, when George W. Bush commented shortly after Regan’s death that Bush and Cheney could “now truly win one for the Gipper.”

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