Dan Ruettiger says it is true that he fought with his brothers over underwear.
Growing up in a family of seven boys and seven girls, Ruettiger learned to make do with practical clothes instead of toys for Christmas.
“You had to struggle for everything you had,” he recalled, after laughing over the battles for unmentionables. “Let me put in another view.
“You learned to appreciate what you have. A lot of people take things for granted. Coming from that struggle, you learn to earn things. And then you appreciate it and respect it more because of how you got it.”
Ruettiger waited nine years to realize his dream of playing for the University of Notre Dame football team. That struggle, which ended with a 27-second game appearance, led to his second effort, a 10-year crusade to convince someone to make a movie based on his years of perseverance. In 1993, “Rudy” came out and since then, Ruettiger has been a motivational speaker, operating Rudy International (www.rudyintl.com), with his wife, Cheryl, from their home in Henderson, Nev.
“The movie was a message of a guy who had a dream, who persevered,” Ruettiger said on Oct. 21, when he returned to Joliet to be the guest speaker during the University of St. Francis Athletic Department’s annual Brown & Gold Night.
“(The character in `Rudy’) had a passion to realize his dream. What I really wanted more than anything was to be part of something. I guess the message is about being a good contributor. I just want to let people know, `Be what you want to be.’ “
Ruettiger, 50, is the oldest son and third oldest child of Daniel and Elizabeth Ruettiger. The Ruettigers were married in 1945, and Dan the elder worked as a supervisor at Union Oil in Joliet as they raised their kids in the Ingalls Park area of Joliet. He retired in 1986, and the couple now live in Montello, Wis.
The Ruettigers wouldn’t let their children (who all went by the nickname Rudy as kids) go out after school until they were juniors in high school. The children were not allowed to date until they graduated from high school.
“We wanted our kids to turn out good, and that is why we did that,” explained Daniel, 76. “The sports were important to the kids because it was something to keep them busy,” said Elizabeth Ruettiger, 72.
All the boys played football and were wrestlers in high school. Today, five of Dan’s brothers are head wrestling coaches at Chicago area high schools.
Dominick, 43, of St. Charles is at Neuqua Valley; John, 41, of New Lenox is at Lisle High School; Bernie, 37, of Bourbonnais is at Bradley Bourbonnais, and Mark, 35, of New Lenox at Lincoln-Way. Tim, 46, of New Lennox returned to coaching this year at East Leyden in Franklin Park. Francis, 44, of Plainfield is the strength coach at Joliet Catholic Academy.
“When you got that many brothers, you start wrestling at a young age,” explained Francis, a former world and national powerlifting champion. “We wrestled for food and clothes. The little guys benefited from the older guys. Actually, (John, Bernie and Mark) were the best wrestlers in the family. Mark was a two-time All-American and Bernie and John did very well in college too.”
Each season, the brothers bring their teams together for the “Ruettiger Cup.” The meet will be held this year on Dec. 22 at Neuqua Valley, with the host school and Lisle, Lincoln-Way and Bradley Bourbonnais participating.
“I have a lot of respect for the whole family,” Sandburg wrestling coach Mike Polz said of the Ruettigers. He was the assistant coach to Tim at Providence for five years and is now starting his seventh season at Sandburg.
“They all know how to deal with kids, especially Tim. He helped me a lot. They have all been successful coaches and have had good teams. All their hard work pays off.”
The seven Ruettiger girls were all high school cheerleaders and have gone on to careers in music, accounting, cosmetology and education. They are Jean Ann Voelker, 52, of Atlanta; Mary Eileen Brockup, 51, of Channahon; Carol Surges, 49, of New Lenox; Rosemarie Haiduke, 48, of Wauconda; Elizabeth Gallo, 47, of Naperville; Rita Xasanaj, 40, of Eden, N.C.; and Norma Berman, 38, of Joliet. In addition, there are 44 Ruettiger grandchildren.
“Our parents pushed us with discipline, but they were always positive,” Berman said. “I didn’t own a bike. We were poor little kids, but our parents always told us to never let that get us down because someday we would be able to own things ourselves.”
Dan was to attend Providence, but when his parents took him to enroll, he asked if there was a football team. Told no, he begged to go to Joliet Catholic High School (now Joliet Catholic Academy).
Dan Ruettiger played guard and linebacker for Coach Gordie Gillespie at Joliet Catholic. Ruettiger credits Gillespie, the former College (now University) of St. Francis baseball coach and the winningest baseball coach in college history, with teaching him to ignore labels and to believe in himself.
“Dan didn’t know anything but to give 100 percent,” said Gillespie, now the head baseball coach at Ripon College in Ripon, Wis. “The only way to beat Rudy in anything . . . if you were, let’s say, in a fistfight with him, you might beat him but you would have to kill him. He never gave up.”
“I never focused on what I could do; instead I focused on what people said I should do,” Ruettiger said. “It was confusing until I started learning how to focus my energy on what I can do. Then I found that there is always another way to get where you want to be.”
That was an important lesson for Ruettiger, ranked 148th among the 150 students in the class of 1966. He wanted to attend Notre Dame but didn’t have the grades. After working in Joliet for a year and serving in the Navy, Ruettiger learned that he could attend junior college and then transfer to Notre Dame. In 1972, he enrolled at Holy Cross College in South Bend, Ind., and transferred to Notre Dame in 1974, making the football team as a walk-on defensive lineman.
“It is like anything in life . . . when you have a big vision, if you focus on that vision, you’ll get it,” he said. “But most people quit because it gets too hard.”
Three janitors at Notre Dame (rolled into one composite character in the movie), his supervisors as he worked his way through college, encouraged Ruettiger to keep trying to get a chance to play. Gillespie and his father also were important mentors, he said.
“I was happy that he got into Notre Dame, but I never figured he would get into a game because I thought you have to be special and have great talent,” his father said. “But he had determination and still does.”
After years on the practice squad, Ruettiger finally got to play in Notre Dame’s final game of the 1975 season. He saw 27 seconds of action, sacking the Georgia Tech quarterback on the last play of the game. His teammates carried him off the field, the last time a Notre Dame football team has done that.
“I said, is this all there is to it?” Ruettiger recalled. “I worked so hard and it is over so quick. But what it really was was the journey to those 27 seconds. It is the journey to the moment that makes it awesome. That journey is what builds character. I can’t explain how that moment felt.”
The next season, Ruettiger became a graduate assistant on Coach Dan Devine’s staff at Notre Dame. After leaving the school in 1976 to work in Chicago, he realized that his story resonated with people.
He began pitching the idea of a movie in 1982, getting rejection after rejection. In 1987, he began talking with Angelo Pizzo and David Anspaugh, the producers of “Hoosiers,” a hit movie about Indiana basketball. They agreed to make the movie in 1992.
“They understood the human elements . . . the sacrifice (required) and the relationship of father and son,” Ruettiger said. “I wanted Notre Dame football and Notre Dame the campus to be the metaphor and Rudy to be everybody.
“I was labeled while I was going to school. I was called stagnant, but I wanted to be somebody. That, I think, is why they made the movie. They saw one moment of glory that 99 percent of people would have quit on because it gets so hard. `Why is he working so hard . . . he’s never going to play.’ Because of that fight for the dream and determination, people start respecting those elements.”
While he pursued the movie, Ruettiger worked a variety of jobs around the country, from selling real estate to running a car dealership. After the movie came out, he became a motivational speaker and formed his company with the help of his future wife, Cheryl, whom he met in Connecticut in 1985 and married in 1996.
“I think we have the same mission in life: to help children and families,” she said of why their friendship blossomed after starting the company. “We want to develop communications that help children, to teach them integrity and values and to help children control their anger.”
Ruettiger has written two books (“Rudy’s Rules” and “Rudy’s Lessons for Young Champions,” both published by Rudy Publishing and priced at $19.95 each). Another book, “Rudy’s Friends,” to be published by Legacy Communications and released in January, is a compilation of stories about perseverance that Ruettiger solicited. He received 500 responses and selected 23 for the book.
The other change in Ruettiger’s life will be the birth of his first child. Cheryl is expecting a daughter next month, and Dan hopes she’ll be interested in sports.
“I think sports are very important because you are involved with other people,” he said. “Sports give you accountability, responsibility and a sense of how to get along with others. You learn to respect each other and work together as a team.”
In 1993, Ruettiger was invited to the White House by President Clinton. Since then, he has traveled all over the country making speeches to corporations and schools, from colleges through elementary. Sometimes, he pinches himself when thinking of his life story.
“I made the movie. I get to speak, got to write a book and another book. I get to be at the White House and get to be around important people. Then I say to myself, what did I do to get here? I never quit,” Ruettiger said.
“People (who have seen the movie) feel that the underdog made it. Not that my struggle was any different than anybody else’s. I just didn’t quit. That was the difference. I wanted to prove a point that if you don’t quit on what you want, you’ll get it.”
