George Gipp George " The Gipper " Gipp ( February 18 , 1895 – December 14 , 1920 ) was a college football player who played for the University of Notre Dame . Gipp was selected as Notre Dame ' s first All - America n and is Notre Dame ' s second consensus All - American ( of 79 ) , after Gus Dorais . Gipp played multiple positions , most notably halfback , quarterback , and punter . He is still considered today to be one of the most versatile athletes to play the game of football and is the subject of Knute Rockne ' s famous " Win just one for the Gipper " speech . Gipp died at the age of 25 of a streptococcal throat infection , days after leading Notre Dame to a win over Northwestern in his senior season . College career . Born in Laurium , Michigan , he entered Notre Dame intending to play baseball for the Fighting Irish , but was recruited by Knute Rockne for the football team , despite having no experience in organized football . During his Notre Dame career , Gipp led the Irish in rushing and passing each of his last three seasons ( 1918 , 1919 and 1920 ) . His career mark of 2 , 341 rushing yards lasted more than 50 years until Jerome Heavens broke it in 1978 . Gipp also threw for 1 , 789 yards . He scored 21 career touchdown s , averaged 38 yards a punt , and gathered five interceptions as well as 14 yards per punt return and 22 yards per kick return in four seasons of play for the Fighting Irish . Gipp is still Notre Dame ' s all - time leader in average yards per rush for a season ( 8 . 1 ) , career average yards per play of total offense ( 9 . 37 ) , and career average yards per game of total offense ( 128 . 4 ) . Death . Gipp died December 14 , 1920 , two weeks after being elected Notre Dame ' s first All - American by Walter Camp and second consensus All - American overall . A frequently told but probably apocryphal story of Gipp ' s death begins when he returned to Notre Dame ' s campus after curfew from a night out . Unable to gain entrance to his residence , Gipp went to the rear door of Washington Hall , the campus ' theatre building . He was a steward for the building and knew the rear door was often unlocked . He usually spent such nights in the hall . On that night , however , the door was locked , and Gipp was forced to sleep outside . By the morning , he had contracted pneumonia and eventually died from a related infection . It is more likely that Gipp contracted strep throat and pneumonia while giving punting lessons after his final game , November 20 against Northwestern University . Since antibiotics were not available in the 1920s , treatment options for such infections were limited and they could be fatal even to young , healthy individuals . Gipp ' s hometown , Laurium , built a memorial in his honor ; he is buried in nearby Lake View Cemetery in Calumet , Michigan . " Win just one for the Gipper " . It was on his hospital bed that he is purported to have delivered the famous , " win just one for the Gipper " line . He apparently said this line to Knute Rockne , the football coach of Notre Dame . The full quotation from which the line is derived is : Rockne used the story of Gipp , along with this deathbed line that he attributed to Gipp , to rally his team to a 12 - 6 underdog victory over the undefeated Army team of 1928 with Jack Chevigny making the famous , " " that ' s one for the Gipper " " tying touchdown at Yankee Stadium . Chevigny was later killed in action in World War II at Iwo Jima . The phrase " Win one for the Gipper " was later used as a political slogan by Ronald Reagan , who in 1940 portrayed Gipp in " Knute Rockne , All American " and was often referred to as " The Gipper " . His most famous use of the phrase was at the 1988 Republican National Convention when he told Vice President George H . W . Bush , " George , go out there and win one for the Gipper . " The term was also used by President George W . Bush at the 2004 Republican Convention when he honored the recently deceased President Reagan by stating , " this time we can truly win one for the Gipper . " " Win one for the Gipper " was also imitated by Dwight Schultz at the end of the episode " The Bells of St . Mary ' s " in the third season of " The A - Team " . The speech was featured in the classic underdog football movie " Rudy " starring Sean Astin as the real life Daniel Ruettiger who is a walk - on at Notre Dame during his senior year . Ruettiger rode the bench the entire season and it was only during the last game on November 8 , 1975 that he was substituted in for one official play making him officially part of the team . The story was parodied in the 1980 movie " Airplane ! " when Dr . Rumack tells Ted Striker the story of George Zipp , and to " win one for the Zipper " . Exhumation and controversy . On October 4 , 2007 , George Gipp ' s body was exhumed for DNA testing to determine if he had fathered a child out of wedlock with an 18 - year - old high school student . The right femur was removed and the rest of the remains were reburied the same day . A sports author who was present at the exhumation said it was requested by Rick Frueh , the grandson of one of Gipp ' s sisters . The tests showed that Gipp was not the father of the child who was born within days of Gipp ' s death and who died in 2006 . Other Gipp relatives claim exhumation was conducted in a manner and under circumstances that are subject to legal action for damages .