

As a high school football player he would lead his team in tackles, and earn all-conference and all-areas honors as a cornerback, accomplishments that are not just handed out to anybody, nor easy to achieve. And, as much as he loved football, he was not genetically gifted with superior speed, strength, or size.įortunately, what he lacked in physical prowess and academic exceptionalism, he made up for with heart. Not only did Rudy come from a disadvantaged household, where attention and financial resources were hard to come by. Thus, the chasm between him and his dreams would appear nearly impossible to bridge. Unfortunately, the odds were stacked against Rudy from the very beginning. And it was this reverence that would eventually inspire Rudy’s dream of playing for Notre Dame - making the accomplishment one of the greatest glories he could aspire to achieve. There was a reverence for Fighting Irish football in the Ruettiger household. The Fighting Irish would be admired from the Ruettiger living room every game-day weekend during the college season. His father’s love of football, particularly Notre Dame football would rub off on the young Rudy Ruettiger. His father was a hardworking blue-collar miner, and his mother an equally hardworking master-homemaker. He was was the first boy in his family, and was the third child. He was raised in a modest middle-class home with thirteen other siblings to parents Daniel and Betty Ruettiger. Rudy was born on Augin Joliet, Illinois, the state’s third largest city. However, in this article, we aim to touch on the key aspects of Rudy’s inspiring story that you can take and use for your benefit today. With that said, if you haven’t seen Rudy yet, and you have 116 minutes to spare, you should watch it. In fact, Hollywood took note and went on to create the 1993 movie, Rudy, which would go on to become a huge blockbuster success. This Rudy story can benefit us in a variety of ways his story can inspire us to dream a little bigger, push a little harder, and fight a little longer. His true story of overcoming the odds, rejecting the limitations placed upon him, and chasing his dreams despite the naysayers, is a masterclass on success through determination. Please, Buddy.Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger is the inspiration behind one of the most uplifting underdog stories ever told.

Moment of triumph: Air Bud figures out that his big dog nose has Steph Curry range. What happens: A doggo leaves his side gig as a mediocre clown to become the star guard of a middle school boys basketball team. It’s not on this list, but we have to quote Dodgeball here: “It’s a bold strategy Cotton, let’s see if it pays off for him!” (Only Esquire is the "him" here, if you got that.) So we took it upon ourselves to list our favorite-and what we deem the most triumphant-sports movies of all time.

You know what else is awesome? Sports movies, in general. What you end up doing is probably more akin to busting out a couple pushups in the corner of your living room. Rocky, Remember the Titans, The Karate Kid-all home to hill sprints/ab crunching/bench-pressin’ that will, through the power of a good ’80s synth bop or Meek Mill verse, send you straight into. A better example is the sports-movie training montage. There are few things that’ll get you from zero to ready-to-bust-down-a-wall in 30 seconds.
