'Rudy' spreads legacy of hard work on film's 30th anniversary

If you see Rudy Ruettiger and feel compelled to start chanting “Ruu-DEE! Ruu-DEE! Ruu-DEE!” like the Notre Dame fans in the classic 1993 Hollywood underdog story, you’re missing the point.

It’s not about the man, it’s about his legacy.

So, while Sony Pictures Home Entertainment prepares to rerelease “Rudy” this fall in 4K with an extended director’s cut, featuring five deleted scenes and commentary from director David Anspaugh and screenwriter Angelo Pizzo, the real Rudy is out trying to spread his message, speaking to an auditorium full of kids at Casa Grande High School, a blip on the map between Phoenix and Tucson, where overlooked kids need all the hope and inspiration they can get.

“You’ve got to always believe in who you are, and that’s the key,” the 75-year-old Ruettiger said before taking the stage.

“Once you don’t do that, that’s where the goofy thoughts come, the doubt comes, the guilt comes, the judgmental thoughts come. That’s when you start putting all the blame on other people instead of saying, ‘Hey, I’m not working hard enough. I’m not doing enough. I need to get better.’ … That’s why you’ve always got to believe in yourself.”

'No more shortcuts for me'

These days Ruettiger is a motivational speaker, and he’s focused on mental health in an era when suicide risk is spiking. Recent statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that nearly 50,000 people killed themselves last year. The Associated Press says that while the CDC hasn’t yet calculated a suicide rate for 2022, “the available data suggests suicides are more common in the U.S. than at any time since the dawn of World War II.”

Rudy, who came of age during the Vietnam War era, knows about suicide firsthand. He had just come home from a stint in the Navy and was working a blue-collar job in a power plant when everything changed.

“What happened? Your friend takes a shortcut, he ends his life,” Ruettiger said.

It was his response that defined him and created a legacy that has touched countless lives.

“No more shortcuts for me,” he said. “I go towards the dream.”

That journey was captured in the film. Rudy battled through dyslexia to make it into Notre Dame. He made the football team as a walk-on, becoming a human-blocking dummy for the most storied program in the 150-year history of college football. And, against all odds, he got into a game, becoming the most famous golden domer of all time – even if he doesn’t see it that way.

“You used the word ‘famous,’” Ruettiger said. “I don’t think I’m famous. I think there’s a legacy there, and that’s more important than being famous.”

Mental health advocates back him up on this point.

Tim Jensen, chief strategy officer of the clothing brand Grunt Style, sponsored Rudy’s visit to Casa Grande, saying young people need inspiration, and that life is bigger than what they might realize.

“We need to get in front of these young men and women and show them the value of what selfless service looks like,” he said. “We have a lot of issues that are going on within our country today, and it’s going to be this generation of Americans that are going to stand up and be the problem solvers … We’re setting the pace. They’re going to be the ones that finish the job.

“It’s important that we’re instilling a sense of pride and this understanding that, ‘Hey, this is a community that we’re all going to live in, and we have responsibilities to our community. We have to finds ways of improving it and finding impacts to reduce the stress and some of the challenges that we’re going to find the best way that we can.’”

Lisa Tapia, CEO of Blue Bell Behavioral Health-Casa Grande, took it a step further, saying that working-class students often need additional support because they raise themselves with parents out working long hours on multiple jobs.

“It can put them at bigger risk of not going to college or dropping out,” she said.

They helped bring Rudy to campus “to inspire teenagers out here to push past any type of barrier … Get past it. Don’t quit. Don’t give up. I think that was a huge part of our hearts in even starting Blue Bell in the first place. And being able to offer this to the students, we’re just thrilled to be able to have that experience for them.”

'He never gave up'

The Rudy experience starts with a video of man crawling across the Notre Dame football field. Justin Heckathorn was born with cerebral palsy and wasn’t allowed to take his wheelchair onto the grass. Undeterred, he dragged himself out to the intertwined “ND” logo. By the end, his knees were bloody, and he was physically spent. But he accomplished his dream.

Then there’s a video of Kobe Bryant in one of his last interviews before his 2020 death.

“'Rudy' was one of my favorite films growing up,” Bryant said.

“After watching that film … I made a promise to myself, from that day, that I was going to work that hard every single day, so that when I retire, I have no regrets.”

Ruettiger wants to keep spreading this message. It’s why he’s still on the road after all these years, talking to students whose parents were kids when his movie debuted.

“They know what ‘Rudy’ is,” he said. “It’s not about the person, it’s what you leave behind. … That to me is more important than, ‘Hey, Rudy made a lot of money.’ You can’t take it to heaven. Right? But you can leave a lot of your legacy behind to help people.

“What’d Rudy do? He didn’t quit. What would Rudy do? He persevered. What would Rudy do? He never gave up. What would Rudy do? He changed friends. … He did all those things to develop his mindset to say, ‘I’m OK not to be OK.’

“We’re teaching kids that you have to be ‘that guy.’ You don’t. I don’t have to be the best singer or the best speaker or best athlete to be someone. I’m already someone by me contributing. By working hard.”

Reach Moore at gmoore@azcentral.com or 602-444-2236. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @SayingMoore.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Rudy Ruettiger spreads inspiration on 30th anniversary of movie