`Rudy’ a fearless kewpie doll > UM athletic director remembers Notre Dame teammate

The movie tells about overcoming overwhelming odds to realize your dreams.

“Rudy” is about a man, Daniel E. (Rudy) Ruettiger, whose primary goal in life since childhood has been to play football for the University of Notre Dame.

University of Maine Director of Athletics Mike Ploszek lived that same dream and was a teammate and friend of Ruettiger’s back in the 1970s.

“It wasn’t like we called each other on a regular basis, but if we ran into each other, we’d hang out and talk,” said Ploszek, who last talked to Ruettiger eight years ago because Ruettiger was trying to raise funds for a former teammate whose wife had just died.

One of the common bonds they shared was that their high school teams – Ruettiger went to Joliet Cathoic and Ploszek went to Argo – were in the same conference in Illinois and played against each other. However, Ruettiger is much older than Ploszek, so they never actually played against each other.

The movie about Ruettiger traces his coming from a large, Catholic working-class family in Joliet, Ill., that faithfully followed the Notre Dame football team.

The smallish Ruettiger sets his sights on playing for the Fighting Irish, but, with the exception of his best friend, everyone says he can’t make it and to forget it.

His father tells him Notre Dame is for rich kids, smart kids and great athletes and not for blue-collar types like him. He warns him about the pitfalls of being a dreamer.

The death of young Rudy’s best friend in a steel mill accident – they both worked in the steel mill for four years after high school – inspired him to pursue his dream.

A priest befriends him and is able to help Ruettiger enroll at nearby Holy Cross Junior College to raise his grades for entry into Notre Dame. After several rejections, he is finally accepted into Notre Dame.

Ruettiger, overcoming his lack of size with relentless determination and courage and a high tolerance for pain, makes the team as a walk-on, and, in his final year, he finally gets to dress for the first time in the last game. He plays in the final minute and sacks the Georgia Tech quarterback on the last play of the game.

The popular Ruettiger is then carried off the field by his teammates.

“He was the smallest guy on the team,” said Ploszek. “In fact, for the position he played (on the defensive line), he wasn’t even close in size to anybody else at those positions. He was like a kewpie doll out there. He had no business being on the field (size-wise), but he was happy to be there and he loved what he was doing.”

Ploszek, who was sitting in the stands at the Georgia Tech game, said the movie’s depiction of the fans and players chanting “Rudy” to encourage Coach “That definitely is a little high drama (created by the moviemakers),” said Ploszek. “There could have been a pocket of his buddies chanting in the crowd, but that would have been it.”

However, Ploszek said Ruettiger was “definitely carried off the field by some of the players. That wasn’t surprising for those of us who knew the situation. To get into a game and make a sack was a great moment for him. And it showed the affection a lot of guys had for him.”

He said the portrayal of Ruettiger as determined and fearless is accurate.

“He was a guy slugging it out in practice to achieve his own personal dream and we all really respected that,” said Ploszek. “He was always positive, always enthused. Because of his size, he got pushed around the field, even by knuckleheads like me. But you never heard him complain. He never said, `This is awful. What am I doing out here?’ ”

However, he said there is a marked physical difference between Ruettiger and actor Sean Astin, who plays Ruettiger in the movie.

Off the field, Ploszek said Ruettiger was a “regular guy. He was a good guy. He wasn’t extroverted, but he wasn’t shy and retiring, either. He was older than we were and he was infinitely more worldly.”

Astin’s Ruettiger looks younger than his teammates in the film.

In the movie, Rudy approached Notre Dame Coach Ara Parseghian after his junior year to ask him if he could dress for at least one game his senior year. He wanted to prove to his family and friends that he was indeed a member of the team. Since he had never dressed for a game, his family and friends never saw him in uniform on the sidelines.

Parseghian said, yes, but eventually retired after Ruettiger’s junior year and Devine came in as the new coach. In the film, Devine reneged on Parseghian’s promise, but a lot of seniors approached Devine and told him they wouldn’t play if Rudy didn’t get to dress for the game.

“I don’t recall hearing about that but I believe that one or two guys did go to Devine to defend Rudy,” said Ploszek. “Knowing the circumstances and the transition from Parseghian to Devine, I wouldn’t doubt that it happened for a minute.

“Rudy earned it,” added Ploszek. “Everybody appreciated what he did. And Parseghian was like that. If a guy hung in there all those years like he did, Parseghian would eventually give the guy a shot. He always had a deep respect for that. He allowed me the chance to realize my dream. He gave me an opportunity to earn it. That’s all you can ask for.”

Ploszek suffered a broken foot the previous spring that sidelined him for Rudy’s senior season in 1975.

The movie depicts the magical atmosphere surrounding the football program and game day at Notre Dame and Ploszek said that is entirely accurate.

“Even when I talk about it now, 20 years later, it still brings back goose bumps,” said Ploszek. “Being able to run onto that field for a game is one of the neatest moments frozen in time that you can ever have.”