Merv Johnson was the coach who was instrumental in keeping Rudy on as a scout-team player. Īfter tremendous hard work, Ruettiger earned a place on the Notre Dame scout team, a squad that helps the varsity team practice for games. For example, Notre Dame's 1969 starting center, Mike Oriard, was a walk-on who was eventually nominated for a Rhodes Scholarship and earned an NFL contract with the Kansas City Chiefs. Head coach Ara Parseghian encouraged walk-on players from the student body. Ruettiger harbored a dream to play for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team, despite being undersized at 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) and 165 lb (75 kg). It was during his time studying at Holy Cross that Ruettiger discovered he had dyslexia. He enrolled and attended nearby Holy Cross College, and after two years was accepted as a student at Notre Dame on his fourth try, in the fall of 1974. Ruettiger applied to Notre Dame and was rejected due to his low high school grades. Ruettiger joined the United States Navy after high school, serving as a yeoman on a communications command ship for two years then he worked in a power plant for two years. He attended Joliet Catholic High School, where he played for locally famous football coach Gordie Gillespie. Ruettiger did not excel scholastically, at least in part due to dyslexia.
![rudy gay college team rudy gay college team](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/be/3b/bc/be3bbc6ceb82b659032386020424558f.png)
He was born on August 23, 1948, in Joliet, Illinois, where he grew up with his German American family. Biography Early life and family ĭaniel Eugene Ruettiger (nicknamed "Rudy") was the third of fourteen children.