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Jack Cavanaugh of Wilton took a five-word phrase and turned it into a book. The phrase is one of the most famous in all of sports, and the book is "The Gipper: George Gipp, Knute Rockne and the Dramatic Rise of Notre Dame Football." Last week he told how that happened during a program at the Wilton Library.
"It's amazing how so many people know the expression," Cavanaugh, who was born in Stamford, said of the words uttered by Rockne to inspire the Fighting Irish and honor the final request of one of his greatest players.
A former sportswriter, Cavanaugh began researching Gipp's deathbed remark to Rockne "Win one for the Gipper" -- more than 20 years ago for an article for Sports Illustrated. He spoke to Gipp's former teammates and read old newspaper articles and the other two books about the gridiron legend. His article appeared in the December 1991 edition of SI.
His research left Cavanaugh with a lot of unused material, and he realized there was a lot more to the story than that heart-tugging phrase. The author knew he had a unique character in Gipp, a man who went to South Bend planning to play baseball but became Notre Dame's best- remembered football star. So Cavanaugh sorted through his old notes and wrote his fourth book.
While talking about and reading from "The Gipper," Cavanaugh would stop abruptly to tell his 50 or so listeners that if they wanted to know more, they should buy the book. It's a tactic he learned from a friend who told him that after a reading he wouldn't buy the book because he already knew too much.
The device seemed to work, as many from the audience bought the book and waited line for Cavanaugh to sign it so they could share with him their own Notre Dame football stories.
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