Daniel Rudy

Daniel Rudy (by Isaac)

Rudy was a hero to many and to me. When the going got tough, he told himself that “it is to early to quit.” He is an inspiration to me because he never gave up on his dream until he reached it. His dream was to go to the University of Notre Dame and play for their team (Irish). Today Rudy works as a motivational speaker and one of his quotes he said was, “It's about believing in how this country was built, hard work, a dream… and everybody has a chance.”

Rudy was born on 1948 into a low income family in a steel mill town. Rudy saved up as much money as he could so he can pay for college someday when he would get to be in Notre Dame. One day he got sick of waiting so he took the $1000's(about) and went to South Bend Indiana. It was the year 1975 when he went to Holy Cross Junior College, when he tried to get his grades up so he could apply and get accepted to the University of Notre Dame. Rudy applied many times and got rejected every time. It was the last semester of the school year and if he didn't get accepted to Notre Dame then he wouldn't be able to go to that school, because the University of Notre Dame does not accept seniors. So he got his letter of “fate” deciding if he goes to Notre Dame or not go. So he opens it and has an emotional breakdown upon finding out that he was accepted.

He grabs his letter and shows his dad, his dad is very happy and thankful to his god. Rudy goes to school at Notre Dame and tries out for the football team. He is the shortest person there, he wasn't the strongest or best player on the team but the coaches saw that he had the heart of the game. The coaches agreed to put him on the team. During the year he only got to practice with the team. Semesters passed and not one game played. His team felt sad for him because he tried the hardest out on the practice field. Rudy was starting to think that he would be able to play a game.

It is the last game of the season and the last year for Rudy to be at Notre Dame. So he checks a board telling who will be in the game and his name didn't show. So he got mad but sucked it up and went to football practice. At the end of practice everyone who was going to play the last game gave up their spots for Rudy to play for them. So the coach was forced to play Rudy and wasn't too happy about it.

It's game day with Notre Dame vs. Georgia Tech and Rudy is pumped up and ready to play. But as he waited to be put in the game the coach never put him in. It is the last quarter of the game and Rudy was put in the last 27 secounds of the game. He was put in when they kicked the ball off to the other team. It was the last play of the game and Rudy sacked the quarter back. At the end of the game Rudy was carried off the field. Ever since then no one else got carried off the field.

Today Rudy works as a Motivational speaker. Rudy also has a movie about his life and has became famous. Some people couldn't believe that someone his size could stay with one of the best team in NCAA. He has many fans that he inspires today.