Win one for the Gipper

This originated in American football. Knute Rockne was the coach of the US Notre Dame team in the 1920s and George Gipp was his star player. The story goes that Gipp fell ill and when dying he asked Rockne to promise that, when things were going badly for the team, he should inspire them by asking them to ‘win one for The Gipper’.

Ronald Reagan played the part of Gipp in the 1940 film Knute Rockne: All American. The screenplay has the line:

And the last thing he said to me, “Rock,” he said, “sometime when the team is up against it and the breaks are beating the boys, tell them to go out there with all they’ve got and win just one for the Gipper.

Reagan was given the nickname Gipper, which lasted throughout his life. Reagan later used the quotation when seeking election as US president.