What´s been said about George Gipp | |
|
One of the major reporters of the day privileged to have seen a Gipp performance was Grantland Rice. Grant happened to be in the stands on that cold, clear October day in 1920 when George Gipp put on one of the greatest gridiron shows of all time. All afternoon he electrified the ten thousand fans with a display of passing, kicking and broken field running the likes of which had never been seen at West Point. When it was over, when he left the game for a substitute in the closing moments, bloody-faced and battered, those grateful fans showed their appreciation by rising in silent tribute. So impressed was Rice by what he had seen that he some thirty years later in a book choosed George Gipp as left halfback for his all time college eleven. That´s some honor coming from a man who has seen them all covering collegiate football for over fifty years.
Another celebrity of that day, who saw Gipp in action, was the celebrated author Ring Lardner. At mid-season in 1918 he wrote about Gipp: "Notre Dame has one signal: pass the ball to Gipp and let him use his own judgement".
Of course we all know about coach Knute Rockne´s admiration for Gipp. In explaining Gipp´s greatness Rockne wrote: "He was a natural athlete. And he possessed the three most important qualities needed to attain greatness: the qualities of body, mind and spirit. He had what no coach or system can teach - football intuition.
Why is it that after some seventy-five years and hundreds of succeding stars, one man is still able to stir so much emotions? He still haunts us. Just the mentioning "the Gipper" is enough to stir the most somnolent of human imaginations. Back in the old days every thing was easy. Black was black and white was white.
Today, in the modern world, with all it´s technology the master and the individual has become something of a blob of information on a computer. It sometimes looks as we have nothing left but the pleasure of looking back and seing ourself as we once were, and how wonderful simple life had been. And we see George Gipp too, standing as tall as a mountain peak and as big as life itself, superior to anything we´ve created or yet may create for all of our technology. Maybe that is why George Gipp has the power to move us even today.
|