Daniel Eugene

My hero is Daniel Eugene "Rudy" Ruettiger. Born August 23rd, 1948 in Joliet, Illinois, United States of America. He has his own wikipedia page because on his last chance to play football for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team, he was put into a game as defensive end and then sacked the quarterback and became the first of two to be carried off the field by his teammates.

Rudy Ruettiger had a hard time in school because of his dislexia and he was the third of fourteen children in a lower middle class household. He attended Joliet Catholic High School where he played for a local famous coach Gordie Gillepsie. After he finished high school, he joined the United States Navy, serving as a yeoman on a communications commmand ship for two years and then he worked at a power plant for two years. He applied for the University of Notre Dame but had to do college work at Holy Cross College.

In the fall of 1974, he was accepted as a student at Notre Dame after two years at Holy Cross College and three rejections from the University. Rudy always had a dream to one day play for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team despite the fact he was 5'5" and 165 pounds. He made the scout team because he was giving three times as much effort as anyone else. On his last opportunity to play for Notre Dame, Coach Dan Devine played Rudy on defensive end against Georgia Tech. He did two plays, the first one nothing happened and the second one he sacked the quarterback. At that point it was when Daniel Ruettiger became the first of two to be carried off the field by the Notre Dame Irish football team. The other was Marc Edwards who ended up having an NFL (National Football League) career.

In 1997, Daniel Ruettiger and his wife Cheryl founded the Rudy Foundation. It created the Rudy Award program to benefit children's advocacy programs. They created The College Football Rudy Awards, made to honor football players who demonstrate The four C's: character, courage, contribution and commitment. On October 15th, 2005, the Fighting Irish were playing against their rival University of Southern California. The Head Coach Charlie Weis asked for some of Notre Dame's legends to speak at the rally. Rudy came out of the tunnel at the Notre Dame Stadium to a loud ovation. In 1993, Daniel Eugene Ruettiger's story was told in the film Rudy.

Most people would ask me how is Rudy Ruettiger a hero and I would tell them that he inspires me. He shows me that heart is more important than skill.