<Tr> <Th_colspan="2"> Career highlights and awards </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> The first player to have been carried off the field at Notre Dame . Played only two defensive snaps recording one sack . </Td> </Tr> <P> Daniel Eugene "Rudy" Ruettiger (born August 23, 1948) is a motivational speaker who played college football at the University of Notre Dame . His early life and career at Notre Dame was the inspiration for the 1993 film Rudy . </P> <P> Daniel Ruettiger (nicknamed "Rudy") had a hard time in school because he was dyslexic . He was the third of fourteen children . He attended Joliet Catholic High School, where he played for locally famous coach Gordie Gillespie . Ruettiger joined the United States Navy after high school, serving as a yeoman on a communications command ship for two years; then he worked in a power plant for two years . He applied to Notre Dame, but due to his marginal grades he had to do his early college work at nearby Holy Cross College . </P>

The movie rudy based on a true story