ESPN Crew Films as Gipper Unearthed

Legendary Notre Dame athlete exhumed for DNA testing

By John Barley, Newser User

Posted Oct 11, 2007 3:00 AM CDT

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ESPN Crew Films as Gipper Unearthed — This photo taken June 29, 2007, shows a park in Laurium, Mich., dedicated to the memory of George Gipp, the Notre Dame football legend known as "The Gipper." The park is located near the cemetery where Gipp is buried. His body was exhumed for DNA testing Oct. 4, 2007. The test was sought by the Gipp... (Associated Press)

Former Notre Dame football player George Gipp was exhumed recently to undergo DNA testing for an upcoming book on the legend’s life. Gipp, an All American, inspired the phrase “win one for the Gipper” after muttering it to coach Knute Rockne on his deathbed. ESPN was on hand to film the exhumation for an upcoming feature on the famed athlete, the Houghton Daily Mining Gazette reports.

Gipp died in 1920 at the age of 25 from complications from pneumonia and was immortalized by actor and future president Ronald Reagan in the 1940 movie “Knute Rockne All-American.” ESPN, taping for its planned newsmagazine show “E:60," played no part in the decision to exhume the body, a producer told the Gazette, which was done with the approval of a great-nephew. (More George Gipp stories.)

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