Rockne, Knute

Rockne, Knute

▪ American football coach
in full  Knute Kenneth Rockne 
born March 4, 1888, Voss, Norway
died March 31, 1931, Chase county, Kansas, U.S.

      American gridiron football coach who built the University of Notre Dame (Notre Dame, University of) in Indiana into a major power in college football and became the intercollegiate sport's first true celebrity coach.

      In 1893 Rockne moved to Chicago with his family, and in 1910 he entered Notre Dame, where he played end on the football team and was also a track star. The 1913 game with Army, in which passes from Charles (“Gus”) Dorais to Rockne led to an upset victory by Notre Dame, is generally credited with popularizing the forward pass, legal since 1906 but not yet widely adopted. Following his graduation in 1914, Rockne taught chemistry and served as assistant football coach at Notre Dame under Jess Harper, becoming head coach in 1918 as well as athletic director.

 Under Rockne, Notre Dame teams won 105 games, lost 12, and tied 5 from 1918 through 1931 and were declared national champions in 1924, 1929, and 1930 (there was no official poll in these years). Rockne's most famous player was George Gipp (Gipp, George), a devil-may-care star who died in 1920 at the end of his senior season. Following Notre Dame's upset of Army in 1928, sportswriters spread the story that Rockne had inspired his players at halftime to “win one for the Gipper,” a request the dying Gipp supposedly whispered to Rockne. However, it was Rockne's undefeated 1924 team, featuring the Four Horsemen backfield of star players, that marked Notre Dame's arrival at the pinnacle of intercollegiate football, where it remained under Rockne's many successors.

      Notre Dame gained national recognition not just through the excellence of its teams but also through Rockne's tireless promoting and cultivation of prominent sportswriters. Rockne gave his name to a ghostwritten syndicated newspaper column and numerous magazine articles, was a celebrated off-season banquet speaker, and became a spokesmen for several businesses and products, most conspicuously Studebaker automobiles, whose “Rockne” model appeared just after he died. Rockne's death in a plane crash in a Kansas cornfield in March 1931 shocked the nation and prompted tributes from President Herbert Hoover and the king of Norway. An outpouring of popular biographies and testimonials to Rockne's genius, culminating in the 1940 film, Knute Rockne—All-American (with Ronald Reagan (Reagan, Ronald W.) playing George Gipp), guaranteed his immortality as the most famous of American football coaches.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Rockne,Knute Kenneth — Rock·ne (rŏkʹnē), Knute Kenneth. 1888 1931. Norwegian born American football coach at the University of Notre Dame (1918 1931). He revolutionized the sport with the use of the forward pass and other offensive strategies requiring speed and… …   Universalium

  • Rockne, Knute (Kenneth) — born March 4, 1888, Voss, Nor. died March 31, 1931, Chase county, Kan., U.S. U.S. football coach. He immigrated with his family to Chicago in 1893. He ran track and played end on the University of Notre Dame football team, combining with… …   Universalium

  • Knute Rockne, All American — Filmdaten Originaltitel Knute Rockne, All American Produktionsland Vereinigte Staaten …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Knute Rockne, All American — Título Knute Rockne, All American Ficha técnica Dirección Lloyd Bacon Guion Robert Buckner …   Wikipedia Español

  • Knute Rockne All American — Knute Rockne, All American Knute Rockne, All American est un film américain réalisé par Lloyd Bacon, sorti en 1940. Sommaire 1 Synopsis 2 Fiche technique 3 Distribution 4 Lien externe …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Knute Rockne — Tarjeta coleccionable de Rockne impresa en 1933. Título Entrenador en jefe Deporte Fútbol americano …   Wikipedia Español

  • Knute Rockne, All American — est un film américain réalisé par Lloyd Bacon, sorti en 1940. Sommaire 1 Synopsis 2 Fiche technique 3 Distribution 4 Lien externe …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Knute Rockne — Knute Kenneth Rockne est un joueur et entraîneur américain de football américain. Knute Rockne est né le 4 mars 1888 à Voss en Norvège et mort le 31 mars 1931 à Bazaar, Kansas (États Unis). Entre 1918 et 1930, il est l… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Knute Rockne — Knute Kenneth Rockne (* 4. März 1888 in Voss, Norwegen; † 31. März 1931 in Bazaar, Kansas) war ein US amerikanischer Footballtrainer. Er gilt vielen Experten als der beste Trainer aller Zeiten. Seine Bilanz als Trainer in 13 Jahren an der… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Rockne — [räk′nē] Knute (Kenneth) [no͞ot] 1888 1931; U.S. football coach, born in Norway …   English World dictionary

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