Coach gave ‘Rudy’ chance, left lasting impression
There would be no Rudy without Ara Parseghian.
“He could have shot down all of my dreams,” Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger told USA TODAY Sports of Parseghian, the former Notre Dame coach who died Wednesday at 94.
Ruettiger’s story about his time with the Notre Dame football team was the basis of the popular 1993 film Rudy.
“He could have said, ‘Son, you’re too old. You have been in the Navy six years. We don’t take junior walk-ons.’ That would have destroyed me,” Ruettiger said.
But Parseghian didn’t crush Ruettiger’s dream of playing foot- ball for the Irish.
Instead, he eventually gave Ruettiger a position on the scout team.
“He recognized something in people, especially their character and heart,” Ruettiger said. “Years later, I heard that he walked into a coaches meeting and told the coaches about our first meeting. Ara told them, ‘He was just one of those kids you couldn’t say no to.’ ”
The problem, at least for Ruettiger, was that Parseghian wasn’t around to say yes when it came to allowing Ruettiger to dress for an actual game. Parseghian resigned after the 1974 season to pursue a broadcasting career, leaving new coach Dan Devine to make the call.
Devine let Ruettiger dress for the final game of the season, and he recorded a sack in the second of his two plays.
Ruettiger called Parseghian a father figure to the entire team. Despite Parseghian leading Notre Dame to two national titles, Ruettiger doesn’t think he received enough appreciation outside of South Bend, Ind.
“He gets respect from Notre Dame fans, at least the ones who know what he accomplished,” Ruettiger said. “In my opinion, he doesn’t get enough recognition (nationally).”
Ruettiger said he last saw Parseghian at a 2016 book signing in South Bend.
“He was getting up from the table, and I said, ‘Coach, do you need any help?’ ” Ruettiger said. “He said, ‘Dammit, Rudy. What the hell do you think I am? Crippled?’
“He always had the edge. He never changed.”