Rudy: My Story

by Rudy Ruettiger

  The Notre Dame locker room today is probably finer than any locker room in the NFL. It’s carpeted, with fine wood lockers and a red-velvet rope cordoning off the big “ND” on the floor, so no one accidentally steps on that mighty symbol. The training facilities were gorgeous and staffed to the hilt. The hallways were filled with statues and trophies and memorabilia. It was awesome. I hope those kids realize how fortunate they are! It didn’t even smell like a locker room in there.

  Outside once again, walking between the grand old buildings, my eyes were drawn up toward heaven and I started to feel that glory. I took a walk over to the stadium where someone from the grounds crew happened to be around to unlock the gate and let me take a walk inside. I went all the way up in the bleachers, toward the top, to that spot where I used to sit and look down on the field, dreaming of playing someday. I went down and walked into the tunnel, turning back to look at the field from the vantage point where I had once stood with all of the excitement in the world, raring to run out and lead my team onto that field; then I turned the other way to see Touchdown Jesus perfectly framed through the far end of the tunnel.

  In that moment, I thought of my father. It was just outside of that tunnel where he had given me his first hug.

  I could hardly believe he had given me his last just a few weeks earlier.

  I didn’t sleep well that night. The bed was uncomfortable. The room was too hot. My mind simply wouldn’t turn off and relax. I tossed and turned, thinking about what was next for me. I had lots of speaking engagements lined up. I knew I would have a chance to move past some of the mistakes, and that I would find a way to recover financially as long as I stayed focused on my dream. But was the dream of continuing to spread the Rudy message even working? I hoped to spread the message far beyond the business world, far beyond the sports world, to kids from all walks of life. But whenever I looked around at young people today, addicted to video games, suffering from obesity and diabetes like never before in a society that has an impossibly hard time creating jobs, I couldn’t help but wonder: Is there any hope left? Are these kids today getting the message they need in order to survive and thrive in life? Are they getting the wisdom and inspiration they need to help save our country?

  I just needed a sign. Something to tell me I was still pointed in the right direction. That my dream was still worthwhile. That my dream was still having an impact.

  I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again right here: sometimes when you’re looking for something, asking for something, even praying for something, the answer falls right into your lap. As long as you’re ready to receive it, God’s gifts come when you least expect them.

  I took a jog the next day and spent some more time wandering around campus—into the library, into the student center. Late that afternoon, I sat down to grab a coffee outside the Notre Dame bookstore. The sun was setting and that beautiful midwestern orange glow was starting to cast long shadows across the lush greenery and old stone buildings.

  All of a sudden, a group of teenage-looking girls came running out of the bookstore’s side doors.

  “Are you Rudy?” one of them shouted. “Are you the real Rudy?! The man inside told us that you’re Rudy Ruettiger.”

  I thought about denying it. I wasn’t really in the mood for any kind of attention. I just wanted to enjoy my cup of coffee. But these girls were so excited for some reason, I said, “Yeah. I’m Rudy.”

  Well, you would have thought I was one of the Beatles in 1966. These girls started squealing and screaming. “Oh! I’m gonna cry. I’m gonna cry!” The reaction was all tears and giddiness. “Can I get a picture? . . . Can I give you a hug? . . . Mr. Ruettiger, I love your movie. It’s my favorite!”

  I didn’t know what to say. “Thanks!” I said. “Here, sit down, sit down. What brings you girls to campus?”

  There were about ten of them, ages thirteen to fifteen, and they were all there for a summer program on forensics. A science camp, basically, that was teaching them all of the principles the crime scene investigators use, just like on the TV show CSI.

  They started asking all kinds of questions about the movie. They wanted to know what Sean Astin was like, and how we wound up casting him. “Did you know that Sean went back to college after we filmed Rudy?” I told them. They were all surprised by that. “Yeah, he had gone for a couple of years, but after the movie he went back and decided to finish his degree at UCLA.” They all thought that was real cool.

  They asked about Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn, who had both turned into really big stars over the years, and I explained to them how fulfilling my own dream of making a movie helped give them their chance to break into Hollywood. They thought that was pretty cool too.

  It was strange to me, but these girls knew all kinds of details about the film, as if it were fresh in their minds.

  “The part where your friend died—how did that really affect you?” one girl asked.

  “When you lose a close friend who you’ve mentored with, you realize how life is so short,” I said. That’s when they really started listening to me. I could feel their energy, and I started to tune in as they tuned in to me. A few more girls gathered around, and then some older girls in their late teens and early twenties who were camp counselors came over too.

  The whole thing turned into a deep chat session.

  One girl asked about the scene on the bench by the lake. “Did you cry ’cause you were so happy?”

  “I did,” I said.

  “I cry too, when I’m happy,” she said.

  One girl hadn’t seen the movie, but she knew all about it. “Oh! You’re the one who couldn’t play for three years, and then got to play, and made a tackle?” It was amazing that she knew the story without having seen the movie. How does that happen?

  One girl said, “No offense, but I thought you were a lot older. I thought you had passed away.”

  We all had a good laugh at that one.

  I asked the girls where they were from. One was from Detroit. Another from Carlyle, Pennsylvania. One was from Michigan City. One from just south of Chicago, near Joliet. It was wild. These girls were from all over the country! And they all knew Rudy. So I asked where they had seen the film. Some of them saw it in school. One girl said it was shown in health class, which I thought was interesting. Some saw it at home; their parents showed it to them. A couple of them owned the DVD. Some had watched it on Netflix. One of the eighteen-year-old girls said she had been watching it over and over since she was five years old. Five!

  They all spoke about what an inspiration the story was, and I decided to share something that had happened to me just a few weeks earlier. I had gone to a Lakers game, and I was down on the floor before the game started and was introduced to basketball star Kobe Bryant. I didn’t know if he’d even know who I was. But when I said my name, his eyes got real big. “Rudy? From the movie?” he said to me.

  Turns out Kobe Bryant had watched Rudy when he was sixteen years old. He told me, right then and there, that the movie was what inspired him to get serious. Rudy is the reason he’s in the NBA. He watched it over and over again through the years just to remind himself what was important. Rudy is the reason he’s always the first guy at practice, working out longer and harder than everyone else, he said. He realized that if Rudy could make his dream come true, then a guy with his sort of talent had an obligation to work just as hard to get as far as he could in life. The girls loved that story!

  “You’ve gotta go after your dreams, because you never know who you’re going to influence,” I said. I was really getting pumped up now. “When I was trying to get into Notre Dame and to play football, I never imagined I would meet Kobe Bryant, or that he would be influenced by me. Who could ever imagine that? Heck, I never imagined I would meet you! But we meet ’cause you do something; you fulfill a dream.”

  They all posed for cell phone pictures and started posting to their Facebook pages as I asked them to tell me what they thought the message of the movi
e was. This was sort of a test for me. I wanted to see if it was still getting through to this younger generation.

  One girl responded without hesitation: “Keep going for your dreams.”

  Another personalized her response. “It made me be confident and see that I could do anything I want to if I try hard enough.”

  “Your movie reminds me of the slogan Notre Dame has,” one of the older girls piped up. “Play like a champion today.”

  At this point, I realized that these girls were searching for something, just as I was searching for something. There was something in the air as the sun set. Some of that Notre Dame magic had made its way to the bookstore patio.

  The girl from Detroit spoke up again: “People where I live, they loved that movie because you tried and you did everything you could.”

  “Isn’t that what America’s all about?” I said.

  One girl then looked right at me and said, “I love how you’re as inspirational in real life as you are in the story.”

  Phew. That one got me. With everything I had been through that year, it was all I could do not to well up with tears. I decided to jump right back into the message: “Girls, you ever look in the mirror and say, ‘I have a pimple today’?” They all laughed. “You ever look in the mirror and say, ‘I’m not that good-looking’? Well, you know what God sees? God sees nothing but beauty. That’s it. You’re fooled by these goofy people giving you goofy thoughts.

  “The truth is you are someone,” I said. “The truth is, get rid of your goofy thoughts. The truth is, don’t let someone influence what you want to do. You have that choice. That’s the most powerful thing you have. No one is going to stop you from doing what you want to do but you, and that’s the truth.”

  One of the youngest girls was sitting close to me this whole time. She was the quietest of the bunch, listening very intently. For some reason I turned to her right in that moment and said four words: “You’re awesome, little lady.”

  She started crying. For some reason, right in that moment, she needed to hear those words. I don’t know why. I can’t presume why. This young girl needed that encouragement.

  I nearly started blubbering too. This girl was about my daughter’s age, and I know how hard it is for kids going through that awkward adolescent stuff, dealing with school and bullies and certain teachers who do the opposite of inspire and certain peers who do the opposite of inspire and even parents who do the opposite of inspire. I tried to pull myself together and keep talking without losing it.

  “So, are you going to listen to someone who says to you, ‘You can’t do that’? Is that the guy you’re going to listen to? Are you going to listen to someone who says, ‘Here’s why you can’t do it,’ or are you going to listen to someone who says, ‘Sure, you’ll find a way’? Because the fact is, you already have the answer. It’s inside of you. What’s the answer? ‘Do it.’”

  The other girls noticed her crying, and a couple of them put their hands on her shoulders. I turned my attention back to her.

  “Don’t let people influence your thoughts. I know what you’re going through, and you know what? You’re gonna be a big winner. ’Cause you’re fighting right now, aren’t you?”

  The girl nodded and cried harder. All the girls came in for a big group hug. The unconditional support they gave to each other in that moment was a beautiful thing. These girls had only known each other for a few days. It was remarkable.

  Not every one of them would get it. Not every one of them would remember this experience a week or a month or a year from now. But there was more than one girl in that group who would remember that moment—the feeling of that moment—for the rest of their lives. I certainly knew I would.

  Over an hour had passed since they first came up to me. It was almost dark. One of the counselors spoke up and said it was time for all the girls to be getting back. They all went, “Awwwww,” and came in for a great big group hug good-bye.

  “We learned a lot of lessons here tonight,” I said.

  In some ways, I think I was saying it mostly to myself. That hour had been exactly the connection, the boost, the sign, and the answer I needed.

  As the summer sun set down over Notre Dame, the school that forever changed my life, you know what I saw in the eyes of those girls? Inspiration. I saw a little sampling of our next generation, from all walks of life, from all across this country, who with or without my help were seeking out the message. Getting the message. Living the message.

  The Rudy message. The message I have been so humbled by and have tried to do my part to deliver in any way I can for all these years.

  And that gave me hope. More hope than I’d had in a long time.

  As I said good-bye and walked across those sprawling green lawns, as the first stars of evening lit up in the sky and those familiar bells rang out from the Basilica, I was filled with the very same feeling I had the first time I ever stepped foot on that campus.

  It felt like a new beginning. The beginning of something big.

  I wasn’t sure where that path would take me, but with every step I took, I was certain I was on the right path.

  Acknowledgments

  This book would not have been possible without the hard work, dedication, friendship, and support of the entire team that makes up my life—starting with my brothers and sisters, and of course, my mom and dad. Losing my father as I worked on these pages was not easy. But I know he’s in heaven, smiling down on his great big family full of “big shots.” My dad wore that Notre Dame ring I gave him until the day he died. I wear it now, in his honor—every day—while he wears the Notre Dame ring that I wore myself for nearly forty years.

  I want to thank my beautiful, loving, and talented children, Jessica Noel and Daniel Joseph, who continue to inspire me to live my dream. My agent, Joel Kneedler at Alive Communications, and my editor, Debbie Wickwire at Thomas Nelson, who believed in me during the tough times. Don Stillman, whose introduction allowed this book to get off the ground. And Mark Dagostino, who had the passion and commitment to bring my full story to life through every twist and turn.

  A big thank you to my assistant, Carol Cummings, for keeping all the facts and paperwork in order, and my attorney, Michael Eldridge, for handling all the law and order.

  Thanks also to Thomas Hensey and the Rhino team. The Wolfington brothers, Ryan and Sean, who gave me their friendship and support. Tim Blenkiron, a true winner when I really needed one. My good friends Jerry Mowbray and Jon Jannotta. And especially to my lifelong Notre Dame family, teammates and friends.

  My forever gratitude to the Rudy team, from Angelo Pizzo, David Anspaugh, Rob Fried, and Marc Platt to Sean Astin, Jon Favreau, and all of the others who believe in the message of never giving up . . . whose hard work and talents served as the spark that allowed me to begin sharing that message with the world.

  Finally, thanks to God. All faith and courage comes from Him.

  About the Authors

  DANIEL “RUDY” RUETTIGER is the subject of the blockbuster film Rudy and a popular motivational speaker. His humble background and determination to pursue his dreams, no matter the challenge, has made him legendary and an inspiration to everyone from school children to businessmen and athletes, even presidents. He established the Rudy Foundation to help children around the world and the Rudy Awards for high school and university level athletes.

  MARK DAGOSTINO is a New York Times best-selling coauthor and one of the most respected celebrity journalists in America. For ten years he was on staff in New York and Los Angeles as a correspondent, columnist, and senior writer for People magazine, interviewing personalities such as Shaquille O’Neill, Michael J. Fox, Christopher Reeve, Jennifer Lopez, and Donald Trump.

  Photos

  Daniel O. Ruettiger,

  Rudy’s dad, age 22; Air Force Sergeant, 1945

  Betty Ruettiger,

  Rudy’s mom, age 17, 1943

  Betty and Daniel Ruettiger wedding party, May 13, 1945

  Rudy
’s First Communion, age 10, 1958

  Rudy’s sister, Mary Eileen, with 6-year-old Rudy, 1954

  The Ruettiger Family—Dad, Mom, and 14 children, 1963

  The Ruettiger Boys with dad, 1995

  The Ruettiger Family, 1984

  USS Robert L. Wilson (DD-847), Mediterranean Tour, 1971

  Coach Nappy Napolitano, and Rudy; Bengal Bouts Boxing, 1974

  Rudy during Notre Dame-Georgia Tech Game

  Topps Collectors Card, 2011

  Dan Ruettiger, #45,

  Defensive End, 1975

  1975 Notre Dame Football Team

  Walking out of tunnel, Notre Dame-Georgia Tech Game, November 8th, 1975

  The Tackle, Notre Dame-Georgia Tech Game

  The Carry Off, Notre-Dame-Georgia Tech Game

  First job at Pat Ryan & Associates, 1977

  Rudy in his condo in South Bend, Indiana, 1992

  Rudy movie poster, 1993

  Jason Miller, David Anspaugh, and Rudy on the Rudy set

  Rob Fried, Rudy, Peter Guber, Cary Woods, and Roger Valdiserri

  David Anspaugh, Rudy, and Angelo Pizzo

  Sean Astin, Rudy, and Jon Favreau on the set

  Skip Holtz and Rudy, 1993