If the movie “Rudy” doesn’t do something to you, if it doesn’t leave a lump in the throat the size of “Rudy” Ruettiger himself, there’s a problem.
I have never sat through that film without being reduced to tears. Whether I watch it from the beginning, or I come in just in time for Ruettiger’s tackle against Georgia Tech, I turn into a 265-pound meat bag of sniveling snotitude.
It’s magic; for the scenario it sets up, for the pain and hope the viewer feels through Rudy’s continued disappointments, through the pure, unbridled joy he exudes upon taking the field for his beloved Notre Dame “Fighting Irish” football squad.
South Bend, Ind., is an amazing environment, crackling and buzzing with the electricity that only a true college town can have. It’s the physical actualization of what the movie is trying to convey.
Home of the University of Notre Dame, the campus is the nerve center and pulsing heart behind the city, and you can feel it and see it everywhere. Certainly, like any college town whose economic well-being hinges on hosting tens of thousands of community transplants, there are pockets of animosity.
For the most part, though, South Bend and Notre Dame are simpatico, steeped with an aura of small-town intimacy with big-city flourishes.
A co-worker and I had the privilege of attending the Michigan-Notre Dame game on Saturday, a day before we were to attend a conference near the campus. There we were, two Imperial Valley souls in the middle of a sea of more than 80,000 college football faithful on hand to pull for the Irish or for the Michigan Wolverines, both sides of one of the most storied NCAA rivalries in the nation.
Yet as intense as the atmosphere was, as historic and important as it all felt, under the shadow of Touchdown Jesus, posing for photos next to statues of Lou Holtz or Ara Parseghian, hoping for a run in with the real-life “Rudy” — who actually was there — sports is only one piece of the Notre Dame puzzle and how it makes up the power of the university experience in South Bend.
It’s the football, yes, and other sports, too. But it’s the academia and quality of education, it’s the newfound independence for the students in a controlled setting, it’s the palpable presence of something bigger and greater, that you’re part of an institution with power, prestige, history and a cachet that extends far beyond a resume or job application.
And that goes for many institutions of higher learning in this country, some to a larger degree than others. Notre Dame, like a Harvard, a Yale, a Cal, a Stanford, a Duke, might be the cream of the crop, but the pride is no less significant and the experience no less satisfying for those attending and graduating SDSU, Fresno State, Cal Poly SLO or Pomona.
It’s about getting away from home, getting an education and having a growth experience that feeds the head and the heart.
I have few regrets, and I’ve lived a life where I should have many. But not putting myself in a position where I could have gone away to a university, graduated and used that experience as a launching pad to a different kind of path, is the big sore spot for me.
It’s not going to happen now, but I’m making my children this promise, committed to print — I will get you there if that’s what you want. It’s my duty as a parent, and more important, my pleasure as a human being who knows how much can be gained from the insight and experience of other human beings, professors, peers and people from all walks.
Fortunately, there are many who make it their career to help children realize this future: school and Imperial County Office of Education programs, counselors to help with finding ways to pay for college and find grants and scholarships, and more. There are even those who can smooth the transition from home to home-away-from-home.
“Rudy” Ruettiger’s path was ridiculously difficult. It doesn’t have to be that hard for our children.
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