Knute Rockne

1888–1931 · Notre Dame head football coach, 1918–1930

Knute Rockne was born in Voss, Norway in 1888 and became head football coach at the University of Notre Dame from 1918 to 1930, compiling a record of 105–12–5 — a .881 winning percentage. He was famous for his locker-room oratory, including the “win one for the Gipper” speech, which is exactly why so many unsourced pep-talk lines drift onto his name. He died on 31 March 1931 in a plane crash in Kansas, which places him before almost every printed version of this quotation.

Traced to source

3 quotes we’ve traced to Knute Rockne

“Football is a game played with arms, legs and shoulders but mostly from the neck up”

Attributed

“The secret is to work less as individuals and more as a team. As a coach, I play not my eleven best, but my best eleven”

Attributed

“Show me a good and gracious loser, and I'll show you a failure”

Disputed

Not actually Knute Rockne

Often misattributed to Knute Rockne

Famous lines widely pinned on Knute Rockne that we’ve traced to someone else.

“Let's win one for the Gipper”

actually George Gipp

“Many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices”

actually William Fitzjames Oldham

“Show me a good and gracious loser, and I'll show you a failure”

actually Unknown

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