Donald T. Phillips - The Rudy in You: A Guide to Building Teamwork, Fair Play and Good Sportsmanship for Young Athletes, Parents and Coaches

Praise for Rudy

This bookRudys storyis for anyone who has ever been an underdog.

SEAN ASTIN
ACTOR

Every business leader and entrepreneur in America can learn from Rudys lessons of persistence and perseverance.

DAN HESSE
CEO, SPRINT

The power of Rudy isnt just his words or his story. The power of Rudy is his messagea message of selflessness, perseverance, and hope that we all need to hear and remember.

DAVID MONAHAN
PRINCIPLE, COLONY CAPITAL LLC

I was commissioned to work on Rudy in 1993a date I will never forget because the real Rudy Ruettiger interacted in the making of the movie and shared his passion of never giving up, inspiring all of us. Recently, Rudy reentered my life and came to speak in my class of filmmakers and composers. The energy of his light fulfilling dreams created a memory we will remember forever.

KENNETH HALL
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, USC SCHOOL OF CINEMATIC ARTS

If life is all about the journey, then Rudys story is a journey of hope. Im thrilled to see him share his full story with the world in this exciting new book.

JOHN E. ADAMS
CEO, CENEGENICS

In real life, just like the movie, Rudy proves he can take the hits, and keep on coming back.

ANGELO PIZZO
WRITER AND PRODUCER

As a young kid I had a front row seat for one of the all-time great underdog triumphs. Rudy took me everywhere... the locker room, the practice field, the broom closet that served as his dorm room... constantly telling me how he would run out of that tunnel one day. When no one else believed, and I mean no one, Rudy did. I was there when he was carried off the field on his teammates shoulders. Years later, Im still inspired.

TERRY GANNON
NETWORK SPORTSCASTER MEMBER OF JIM VALVANOS 1983 NC STATE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM

The Rudy message never dies. In the lessons of his life, he reminds each of us how possible it is to rise up against all odds.

BRIAN KILMEADE
FOX NEWS, NEW YORK

Rudys book bursts with timeless truths and principles that, when followed, can help you succeed in anything you do in life. I highly recommend this compelling read to all who are in pursuit of a fulfilling life professionally and personally.

SEAN WOLFINGTON
CHAIRMAN AND CEO OF THE WOLFINGTON COMPANIES

Never give up on your dreams. Thats the message that Rudy shares from his blue collar background to the Notre Dame field and beyond.

DAVE TREMBLEY
MANAGER, BALTIMORE ORIOLES (20072010)

Rudy is about winning, in the biggest sense of the word. Not just winning on the field, or winning at the box office, or winning in businessbut winning in life.

ROB FRIED
PRODUCER

Just as Rudy was a film about so much more than football, this book is about so much more than the life story of Rudy Ruettiger. Its a book about hope. Its a book about inspiration. Its a book that readers can turn back to again and again in the face of lifes challenges to remind themselves how to work even harder to turn their own dreams into reality.

STEVE LARSON
CEO, EID PASSPORT

This isnt the story of one man, one dream, one college, or one football team. Its a story for everyone whos ever had a dream. Its a story of hope. Its a story of perseverance. Rudy is for anyone who ever wanted to know what its really like to make dreams come true.

REAR ADMIRAL KEVIN DELANEY
UNITED STATES NAVY (RETIRED)

Rudy: My Story is a combination of honesty and heartfelt truths of never giving up. It is a touching rendition of total inspiration.

JON JANNOTTA
CEO, WWW.U-INSPIRE.COM

Rudy

MY STORY

Rudy

MY STORY

by DANIEL RUDY RUETTIGER
WITH MARK DAGOSTINO

2012 by Rudy Ruettiger

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Thomas Nelson, Inc. titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fundraising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail SpecialMarkets@ ThomasNelson.com.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Ruettiger, Rudy.
Rudy : my story / Daniel Rudy Ruettiger with Mark Dagostino.
p. cm.

ISBN 978-0-8499-4839-8 (hardcover)

1. Ruettiger, Rudy. 2. College football players--United States--Biography. 3. Dyslexics-
United States--Biography. 4. University of Notre Dame--Football. 5. Notre Dame Fighting
Irish (Football team) I. Dagostino, Mark. II. Title.
GV939.R845A3 2012
796.332092--dc23
[B]
2012016188

Printed in the United States of America

12 13 14 15 16 QG 5 4 3 2 1

This book is dedicated to my family.

Contents

In life, its not about how hard you get hit. Its about how many times you get back up and how hard youre willing to keep fighting for your dreams.

It is amazing how a movie can touch your life. I remember watching the powerful film Rocky just after I graduated from the University of Notre Dame, followed by Rocky II a couple of years after that. I remember that overwhelming feeling of just wanting to go run up some stairs somewhere and throw my hands in the air as I left the theater. That feeling that I could do anything. That I could conquer the world.

The funny thing was, I had conquered the worldor at least a small part of it. I had already had a Rocky moment in my real life. I had already accomplished more than anyone else ever dreamed I could. Like Rocky Balboa, I had proved all the naysayers wrong. I won. In my own way, on my own path, I won. Me! A stocky, messed-up kid from Joliet, Illinois, whom some people doubted would graduate high school, had gone on to play for the University of Notre Dame football team and to earn myself a top-notch college education.

And I was just getting started.

Watching Rocky, and later the outstanding film Hoosiers, made me think about my own story of perseverance. Anyone I told my story to was bowled over. Your life is like a movie! theyd tell me. I was an insurance agent at the time. I didnt know a thing about Hollywood. But after enough people said it, I started to believe itand I called on my inner Rocky to see if I could go do something about it.

A few long years and countless struggles later, my lifes story became a movie all its own: the 1993 film Rudy.

All of a sudden I was invited to give pep talks in locker rooms all over America. Corporate giants brought me into their boardrooms to fire up their sales teams. I was invited to the White House for a private screening. To this day, clips from Rudy play during the seventh-inning stretch at Yankee Stadium and at countless sporting events around the world. The film tops lists of the most inspirational movies of all time, and if you turn on your TV, chances are you can find it airing on one cable station or another nearly every week throughout the year.

Rudy became something much bigger than me. Much bigger than I ever dreamed.

Today, nearly twenty years after the film was made, wherever I go, people talk to me about how they call on their inner Rudy to find the strength to follow their dreams. People line up at events and appearances to tell me about their own real-life Rudy momentsthe way I used to refer to