George Gipp (February 18, 1895 – December 14, 1920), nicknamed "the Gipper", was an American college football player at the University of Notre Dame under head coach Knute Rockne.

[1] Gipp was selected as Notre Dame's first Walter Camp All-American,[2] and played several positions, particularly halfback, quarterback, and punter.

Gipp died at age 25 of a streptococcal throat infection and pneumonia,[3] three weeks after a victory over Northwestern in his senior season,[4] and was the subject of Rockne's "Win just one for the Gipper" speech.

A frequently told but probably apocryphal story of Gipp's death begins when he returned to Notre Dame's campus after curfew from a night out.

[12] Gipp's hometown of Laurium built a memorial in his honor; he is buried in Lake View Cemetery near West Tamarack, Michigan.

[14][15] He apparently said this to Rockne;[16] the full quotation from which the line is derived is: Rockne used the story of Gipp, along with this deathbed line that he attributed to Gipp, to rally his team to a 12–6 upset of the previously undefeated Army team in 1928, with Jack Chevigny scoring the "that's one for the Gipper"[clarification needed] tying touchdown at Yankee Stadium.

On October 4, 2007, Gipp's body was exhumed for DNA testing to determine if he had fathered a child out of wedlock with an 18-year-old high school student.