After Gipp led Notre Dame to victory against West Point, the Army coach fumed, "Gipp is no football player. He's a runaway sonofabitch." More than fifty (75 years at this writing)
years after his death, George Gipp still fires the imagination of sports fans. Perhaps it was the era to which he belonged, or his association with Notre Dame
coach Knute Rockne, or simply his incomparable athletic ability — something about Gipp made him stand out as a giant.
Now Patrick Chelland takes a look at the Gipp legend and examines what made the Gipper run. Through memoirs, newspaper accounts, and interviews with Gipp's
friends, the author recreates an extraordinary period in American history.
Here is the flavor of campus life, the emergence of Notre Dame's football dynasty, the exuberance of a nation infatuated with its heroes. In the middle of it all
stood halfback George Gipp, the vital symbol of an era yet an aloof, troubled young man, a gambler, womanizer, and wit who made himself a legend in the course
of a tragically brief life.
When Notre Dame needed a touchdown, Gipp was prepared to ignore a severely separated shoulder and charge through the line. Yet when Knute Rockne once
berated him at halftime for his seeming indifference, Gipp merely replied, "Look, Rock, I got $400 bet on this game. I'm not about to blow it."
Torn by such contradictions, Gipp remained a mystery even to his closest friends; only an untimely death could end the conflict.
Warm, nostalgic, and rich in anecdote, One for the Gipper will delight old admirers of Knute Rockne as well as George Gipp and enthrall those
to whom this colorful, bygone era is relatively unknown territory.
PATRICK CHELLAND, was a resident of Old Forge, Pennsylvania until his death in 2005. He was born sometime after George Gipp's heyday. In addition to being an avid sports fan, Mr. Chelland is the author of short stories and light verse.
(Note: This copy came from the jacket flap of the original book first published in 1973.)
