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It’s been 26 years since Rudy Ruettiger became a household name on a first-name basis thanks to the 1993 movie “Rudy,” widely recognized as one of the greatest sports films of all time. The tale of the undersized underdog who achieved his dream of playing—in one game, for just one play—for the famed University of Notre Dame football team had mass appeal because it is a classic tale of perseverance, relatable for anyone who has ever been told or felt they could not achieve something. It is not a surprise that in the second act of his life, Mr. Ruettiger, now 70, has become a highly sought after motivational speaker. Mr. Ruettiger will bring his brand of inspiration to the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center (WHBPAC) for “An Afternoon with Rudy,” on Sunday, June 16, at 4 p.m. While audiences across the country line up to hear him speak and gather motivation in their own lives, Mr. Ruettiger says it’s a process that works both ways.
“I get inspired by all kinds of stories,” Mr. Ruettiger said in an interview last week, after finishing speaking to a gathering of scientists at an event in Wisconsin. He spoke about meeting a young man a month ago near his home in Las Vegas. He was a Green Beret in the military, a significant achievement considering he’d grown up in a trailer park and was taken from his mother, a meth addict, when he was just 13 years old.
“He bounced all around to different foster homes, and said the only thing he hung on to was wrestling, and the movie ‘Rudy,’” Mr. Ruettiger said. “He said it gave him hope.”
For those (few) who are not familiar, the movie “Rudy” tells the tale of a teenager, the third of 14 children in a working-class family, who had a laser focus on earning a spot as a walk-on on the Notre Dame football team, easily the most popular college football team in American history. Mr. Ruettiger was a talented and energetic football player as a teen, but he was undersized, at only 5 feet 6 inches, and also struggled with learning disabilities that went undiagnosed in high school. He was chastised for his inability to keep pace academically, and did not discover he was dyslexic until later in life. His motivation to play at Notre Dame was born out of another relatable reason: he wanted to please his hard-working father who he watched toil away at multiple jobs to put food on the table for his large family. Watching Notre Dame football on TV was a bright spot for the elder Mr. Ruettiger in an otherwise difficult life.
“My father worked hard all his life, and he always had hope in his eyes when he watched Notre Dame,” Mr. Ruettiger said, speaking of his intense motivation to try and make the team. “It was a gift I wanted to give him. He was always put down working three jobs.”
It seemed impossible—and many people, even those who loved and supported him—didn’t believe Mr. Ruettiger would ever make the team. But in the only action he ever saw, in the last 27 seconds of the final game of the season in 1974, Mr. Ruettiger sacked Georgia Tech’s quarterback, to the delight of his teammates.
It’s not only underdogs who relate to Mr. Ruettiger’s story, he said. He also spoke about meeting the NBA All-Star Kobe Bryant, who told Mr. Ruettiger that seeing the movie was a wake-up call of sorts for him when he was a young highly touted high school phenom who would ultimately skip college and go directly to the NBA.
“He was very emotional, and told me, ‘your movie saved my life and my career,’” Mr. Ruettiger recounted. “He was 16 years old at the time, and he said he had been taking his talent for granted.”
Mr. Ruettiger added that Mr. Bryant then credited him for committing to a two-hour preparation routine before games. Mr. Bryant and the Green Beret came from different backgrounds and perspectives, but the fact that they were both inspired by the movie speaks to its wide appeal, according to Mr. Ruettiger.
“There’s a Rudy in everybody,” he said.
Mr. Ruettiger’s road to glory at Notre Dame was long. He attended Holy Cross college for two years before getting into Notre Dame, and finally earned a spot on the scouting team in his final season of eligibility, after failing to make the cut multiple times. In the final game of the season, head coach Dan Devine put Rudy in a game against Georgia Tech, and he made the sack. That scene was the pinnacle of the movie. It was the only game Mr. Ruettiger ever played in, and the only statistic he ever recorded. The movie does take certain liberties, including casting Coach Devine as a foil when he was actually supportive of Mr. Ruettiger. Conversely, a groundskeeper at the stadium who was portrayed as a close friend and supporter of Mr. Ruettiger in the film was actually a fictional character, meant to be a stand-in as a composite of everyone who had supported him in real life. And the famous scene where the rest of Mr. Ruettiger’s teammates leave their jerseys on their coach’s desk, one by one, vowing not to play if he does not put Mr. Ruettiger on the active roster for the final game, was a fictional flourish as well. But those extra embellishments were largely OK with Mr. Ruettiger, since they were in service to the message, one that he still promotes today.
Mr. Ruettiger did not transition immediately into a career as a motivational speaker. He spent many years working in insurance after college, and was not the household name he is today until several years after the movie came out. Though not an immediate hit, the film gained notoriety over time.
Mr. Ruettiger said he always knew his story would make a good movie, but he had to call on the gumption and persistence that landed him on the Notre Dame football team in order to make it happen, he said. After a decade of toiling, the movie finally became a reality in 1993.
Becoming a household name was the first step in his new career move. After that, it was about building his brand, Mr. Ruettiger said.
“That was the challenge; to build on the message of the movie and build the message of what I believe,” he said. “But now we have a brand. I’m not here because I succeeded. I’m here because I failed a lot. I learned from my mistakes, and I kept moving forward. Just move forward.”
That message—embodied originally in the movie and repeated every time he visits a different city and talks to students, CEOs and other people from different walks of life—has proven to have staying power. Mr. Ruettiger says he’s still delighted when he meets people who were not even alive when the movie came out, but know it well.
“I was in the Milwaukee Brewers locker room the other day, before a game, and I was surprised that all the players said they’d watched ‘Rudy’ when they were kids,” he said. “And they want to take pictures with you. It all makes sense to parents and teachers, and they still want to show the movie.”
Mr. Ruettiger embarked on his second act as a motivational speaker a bit unintentionally, after being invited by a Fortune 500 company (which he declined to name) to speak at an event in Las Vegas, where he now lives.
“I went out there and I liked it,” he said. He added that his message was simple; he spoke about persistence, determination, and teamwork, topics that are important in the corporate world. He admitted he was a bit nervous the first time he spoke, but said that faded quickly, for simple reasons.
“You tell your story through those messages,” he said. “It was very natural because I’ve been through it; I didn’t have to make anything up.”
Becoming a motivational speaker was something that had been in the back of his mind, Mr. Ruettiger said, in the years after he graduated from Notre Dame, especially after seeing another inspirational sports movie: “Rocky.” He knew, he said, that he had something to say. It’s obvious that he has honed that message over the years, and it has become second nature to him. He speaks quickly, rattling off inspirational quotes in a way that makes it clear he’s said them a million times, but while still maintaining a spirit of sincerity. There is a matter-of-factness to the way he speaks, a dispensation with fuss that conveys his complete buy-in to what he’s saying, his acceptance of it as basic fact rather than something revolutionary.
“People don’t care what you know, they want to know how much you care,” he said. “They feel that, and you can lead through that, and through your experiences, and the challenges you overcame. I had to experience it in order to give that message out.”
It’s natural to assume that after the years of tireless work, constant letdowns, and countless people telling him he couldn’t make the team that Mr. Ruettiger may have experienced an emotional letdown after his big moment on the field at Notre Dame. But it has never been in his nature.
“I was looking for the next big dream,” he said. “You get one dream done, you gotta do another. You just take one step at a time, and as you do all these little successes, you get more confidence. And you realize you can go to bigger places.”
“An Afternoon with Rudy,” Sunday, June 16, at 4 p.m., Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center, 76 Main Street, Westhampton Beach. Tickets $48 at whbpac.org or 631-288-1500.
on Jun 10, 2019