September 1, 2022 • 58 mins
Rudy Ruettiger, the inspiration behind one of the greatest sports movies in history ... the movie "RUDY", joins the podcast to talk about his journey as a walk-on and the successes that followed.
A former walk-on for the Notre Dame Football program from 1974 to 1976, Rudy is the epitome of what walk-ons represent and what walk-ons around the world embody.
In PT.1, Rudy & Noah discuss:
- 27 years to play 27 seconds
- How being dyslexic impacted Rudy
- Why forgiving is the secret sauce
- Mistreatment he dealt with
- Being around winners & who the real losers are
- Developing charter schools for skillsets
-Stigma around walk-ons
....Quotes from Sylvester Stallone & Kobe Bryant about Rudy....getting rid of doubt & fear.....clearing your mind from the clutter.....getting a gameplan.....& so much more!
PT.2 to follow next week with more about the making of the movie "RUDY" and how it all came together....his role on the set of the movie....interasctions with actor Sean Astin.....debunking comments from Joe Montana about the movie....current ND football state.....Brian Kelly leaving....so much more!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Walkie Talkies is a production of I Heart Radio and
the College Athletes Network. Hello Yeah, Rudy Rude. Hello, Hello guys,
(00:32):
Welcome into Walkie Talkies podcast. Man, this w t Z sixteen.
We got a two part series today here on the
College Athletes Network, featured on I Heart Radio with one of,
if not the most famous and legendary walk on's the
world has ever known, the man himself, Rudy Rudiger. I'm
your host, Noah Bono. Man, I'm really happy to be
here today and putting out this two part series episode
(00:54):
with Rudy. It's just crazy, man. You know, this is
a walk on podcast, guys, Like we focus on the
journeys and the successes of college athletes, former and current
walk ons and their journeys as walk ons and what
they do later in life and the successes that they
have that are correlated directly with the walk on journeyman.
And and and that's literally Rudy, Like, the guy was a
walk on, had a trials and tribulations, but ultimately had
(01:15):
his one shining moment and he was able to turn
that journey that he had those two years into a
movie into a lifelong inspirational story and that's where we're
at today. Man like the Man the mid the legend,
like Rudy Rudiger, like the ultimate walk On, the epitome
of walk On Man, like the guy at the forefront
of the walk On Journeyman joined the podcast. So what
(01:36):
a time. So I'll explain the structure of the episode
briefly so listeners can kind of know what to expect
to hear from both episodes, But essentially we go chronologically,
you know, from him leaving the Navy and his work
at an industrial plan to go on the Holy Cross,
and then into his Notre Dame journey and just everything
that came inside that journey as a walk On there.
Part two is heavily focused on the making of the
(01:57):
movie and how Rudy went about selling the film and
the hoops that he had to jump through, and the
people he had to connect with just to get that
all in play, and getting Note Dame on board, and
then touching on some of the comments that people have
made throughout the years about what's true and what's not true.
All that's coming in part two and so much more
than I'm not even mentioning, however, guys, it's freaking Rudy
(02:17):
I mean, I couldn't be more excited. I could have
listened to the man talk all day. He's got so
much great perspective and it's just so much wisdom on
all sorts of things that helped propel his journey more
and more, and so I'm just so grateful and excited
that he shared it all on the podcast. And lastly,
if you guys can just remember to subscribe to Walkie
Tucky's podcast and download the episodes and leave the show.
(02:37):
Leave some episodes a review, you can drop some stars,
you can write a little comment. Those things are really
really appreciated. They do a lot for the show. So
I want to thank you guys in advance for that.
And that's it. Time for me to shut the hell up,
you know the drill. So here's part one of my
conversation with the legend Rudy Rudiger. How are you, sir?
Thank you for taking the time to do this. I appreciate.
I can't believe I got to your brother. You're on
(02:59):
Safari right, yeah? And then he says Google Chrome. Yeah, anyhow,
we're here, that's what counts. Yeah. Um, now, hey, where'd
you go to school? Uh? So I went to actually
went to three colleges. I'm from New Jersey and I
went to two colleges out in Jersey. Uh one for
two years. I went to Writer University, I went to
(03:19):
Ramapo for a year, and then I'm currently in Pittsburgh.
I just graduated from Duquesne. Good for you. So you've
been on a little journey journey voice for the radio.
Thank you, I appreciate it. Um. Yeah, I've been on
a quite the quite the walk on journey. That's what's
inspired me to um start this show. So uh with guests,
(03:41):
I kind of like to start the interviews is like
from right where their walk on journeys began. And for you,
there was a slight pause after high school. You enlisted
into the Navy, I think it was for two years,
and then you did some industrial work after that, going
before going to college. Is that correct? That's absolutely right.
Uh it's a little kind of confusing at first because
(04:03):
of the academic status that I had from high school. Uh,
the dream wasn't realistic basically, but uh, the feeling was there,
so we could talk about all that. How did you
make that feeling into something real? Yeah? Absolutely, So you
know you go to holy Cross after you get denied
(04:25):
from Notre Dame a couple of times, and you spent
two years there and you finally get into accepted into
Notre Dame. How many times did you apply to Notre
Dame and how old were you at that point when
you spent your last two years at night? It was
the last two years when I graduated. But but the
story really begins back when going to church with my family,
(04:47):
because I'm one of fourteen and and my dad three jobs.
The only time he was happy is one Notre name one.
And and if you if you would go to Notre
Dame as a little Catholic boy, you're going to heaven.
And I think everybody w to go to heaven at
that point. But anyway, that's where it kind of started. Also,
(05:09):
it was it came out that you were kind of
struggling with dyslexia correct and it was like it was
a learning disorder no one understood, and that was very
painful because no one understood why you couldn't read, why
the other kids could read or pay attention, and it
was out because of dyslexia. And you find out later
(05:31):
once once you end up going where no one knows you,
and people expect you to do good things. It was
a navy and you you don't have everybody critiquing you.
You don't have anybody putting you in a position of
I call resentment in or embarrassment. They just expect you
(05:57):
to work as a team and collaborate as a team.
And boy, what a difference. And that that's where I understood.
I just got duked by my education. It's not about
what you know, it's about who you know to help
you get to what you need to know. You know,
and that that's the key. But education is very good
and very powerful. Uh, you have to if you're gonna
(06:21):
be a document better, you better know your stuff or
an accountant or a lawyer or but you know, I'm
not gonna be neither of those. So what do I
need to get all those courses that are wasting my
time and energy when I could be learning things that
develop my skill I didn't understand that. But today what's
interesting in what a group of people developing charter schools
(06:43):
for skill sets like UH, aircraft mechanics, Automo automotive mechanics,
wood shop, metal shop, walden, cosmetology, um, anything that can
need to have a skill. So I could walk out
and have a job. And uh, that's what was kind
(07:05):
of interesting. When I was going to go, they kind
of put that down because you weren't taking chemistry, you
were taking woodshot. They made front of you. Kids made
you feel bad, But that was education, that that was
the pain. But you realize years later, hey, that's what
we need. We need our kids have a skill. And
but I had. I had to learn everything the hard way,
(07:26):
which is probably what I needed. So I wouldn't be
entitled to anything. Had to work for it. So the
dyslexia definitely impacted you from Holy Cross to Notre Dame
and beyond. Or was there a point where you find
I think when I came home from the Navy, it
wasn't that I was looking for holy Cross. Uh. When
(07:46):
my friend died at the factory, he and I had
a conversation always Uh, he was in the Navy as well,
and he says, I'm wasting my time here. You're talking
about going to places like Notre Dame. Why you still here?
And I would say, because I'm not academically, you know,
qualified to go to Notre Dame. He said, that's a
(08:07):
bunch of nonsense. And he would always say that said,
look at you, Look at the work you're doing here.
You've gotta be smart to do what you're doing. Yeah, well,
on paper, i'm not. He says, yeah, well, don't live
and regret, son, and you should be out of here
doing your dream. Well then he dies, and that's the message,
loud and clear, don't live and regret. No shortcuts left.
(08:30):
My job went towards Notre Dame to find out what
I needed to do to get there. That's a big difference.
I already knew why I couldn't. Now what do I
need to do to get there? And then all of
a sudden, there's when you're mind it's cleared and the
clutters away in a goofy. Thoughts are away. The answers
(08:52):
are right in front of it, but you have to
recognize them and be open to him. The little junior
college right across the street from Notre day that was
Holy Crossed, and at that time it was like a
hundred kids. And because of that, uh I walked into
that little junior college seeing what I could do to
get there. Uh. I started talking about my past and
(09:14):
little brother at the time, he was in the Navy,
just like I was, and he and I connected to know.
What you need, Rudy is a game plan, and what
you don't need is to live in your past. That's over.
Let's look at what we could do now so we
can move forward. I said, okay, let's do it. Never
asked me again. What I said, all you need is
(09:35):
if you need to work hard, I think you can
do that your work ethic, or you wouldn't have accomplished
what you've accomplished in the Navy. So that's right. So
the other thing is if you don't know something, ask
for help, I said, I always do when I was
in the Navy. Said yep, that's collaboration. So you got
those two down. If you use those two skills, we'll
(09:56):
go on a Notre Dame and I'll endorse you. But
you can't go there unless I endorse you. But what
he didn't I wanted to play football there, so had
to get there much quicker than he wanted me. So
I had to learn patients and learn about failure in
a different way. And every time I got rejected, I
just went back to what more can I do? So
that helped me get to Notre Dame. Because one they
(10:20):
got to know you, they got to know your passion,
your commitment. They also found out you deserve to go
there because of your heart, and you're not gonna fail.
You're not gonna let people down. And they recognize that.
They saw the character and commitment and the courage and
without saying it, and that's what the Navy leadership taught.
(10:42):
It's just there. The energies there, and the winners recognize that,
and Notre Dame recognize that, and that's why they let
me in. And it was as smooth as you could be.
There were certain challenges, yes, but you don't look for
the issues. You handle the issues as they come. So
(11:03):
that's important. People always try to steal your joy or
steal um, steal everything about what you want to do
because they don't see you as a success. They see
you as a failure. Well, if you don't fail, you're
not trying. So failure is not a bad thing. It's
a good thing if you're trying and you learn from
(11:23):
your failures. All the people who called you a loser,
they're the loser because that's the guy you don't want
to be around anyhow, So you want to be around winners.
And that help me get to Notre Dame as well.
There's so many little moments of you know, today, I
still pinch my just left the conversation with Notre Dame
(11:46):
about a half hour ago. There showing the movie to
the kids every year and David and father director wants
to introduce the movie to the student body, and they
showed it in the stadium about ten thou people show up,
maybe more. But I think because the kids bring the
message of Rudy to school with them, the movie makes
(12:10):
a lot of sense. Because I'm not a celebrity or
a star or All American or Hall of Famer, are
not going to go to any NFL team. At that time,
I was just Rudy living my dream for that one moment,
and I had that one moment, and most kids would
love that one moment as well. But they quit along
(12:31):
the way because of information they're given about themselves or
people telling them. I don't know, forget, when I walked
in Hollywood, you don't make movies out of your say,
you don't walk in here and make movies out of
your your journey and you only made a tack or
what there's no story there. That just goes to show
(12:51):
you just gotta keep moving forward and keep talking to
people that want to listen. A lot of people don't
want to listen because they feel they have the answers anyhow, Well,
that's just a flag of town. You move on, bro.
I did, but it took a lot of patience and
a lot of understanding of the message, but more importantly
(13:14):
the patients you needed. And doesn't happen in your time anyhow,
happens in God's time. Once you understand that, it's I'm
a man of faith. Uh. It has nothing with Catholicism
any just a man of faith. And that's important because
when things got hard, you didn't ask for help. You
just prayed that you know, make sure I do the
(13:36):
right thing, the right thoughts. And that always paid off
because your mind was clear. It's always good to clear
your mind from the clutter, because it's easy to product
the clutter man from your friends, from your relatives, from
your even your spouse is even be surprised because they
live in doubt. Why they live in fear. That's how
(13:58):
our society works. Fear. And I was in high school.
It was a fear factor. Middle school. Fear fact. If
you don't do your homework, you're not gonna be anybody.
If you don't understand how to do your homework, you're stupid.
If you ask questions, you're dumb. You know what what
is that you go to church and talk to somebody,
(14:19):
you turn to stone If you turn around in church
years to fall off crazy stupid thoughts and you're very
impressionable at the time. Those are the things you gotta
wipe off and wipe out of your mind. And how
people proceed you through, how they precede themselves. So so
(14:40):
with your with your fear thing, you know, middle school,
high school, very much relate to that because I've I've
been on this journey of like conquering my own fear
that I feel like I grew up with. You know,
So when you had your fear, did it way in
and did it pour over into your Notre Dame time?
Like when you were you know, because you you were
(15:01):
actually a decent football player, led your high school team
and tackles your last two years while you played cornerback,
and then you get the Notre Dame and it's like,
you know, you just wanted to be a part of it,
just you know, want to play one moment. You just
wanted to contribute, so that was the big difference. You know,
that is so important that you understand this because I'm
(15:21):
not going to go there be no All American and
I'm not going to start. But I can contribute. And
all I want to do is contribute to a tradition
into a school that I could be part of. And
they still will not let you do that. They will
resist you. And uh, but that made so so your
time of Notre Dame. Why did they It's entitled athletes,
(15:44):
the All Americans. They recruit the best of the best,
and you're not one of them. You're wasting our time here?
What are you doing out here? And you can't you
have to ignore that. It's like going into Hollywood, what
are you doing? You're not a Sylvester Stallone or you
know you you don't have a good story. Everybody made
a tackle, but you know, you got to find the
(16:06):
right person to give that story too. And that was
the challenge because every everybody feels like they know more
than you, and you're gonna find out just like like
one of you have a great point for radio, and
you have a great understanding, and you ask good questions
and you listen and you come back and ask another
(16:28):
good question. That's a skill. See, that's a skill you
can't teach. That's because you've been preparing and listening and
you've done a lot of work. Like I did a
lot of work about how to movie. How a movie works.
It's through the storytelling of it. It's through the adversity,
the conflict, and through the end results, through the beginning,
(16:51):
how to begin, how it ends and what's the conflict?
And and I think everybody can relate with everyday conflict.
And that's what we brought to Rudy, the everyday conflict,
self esteem, self doubt. Not everybody can relate to a
kid who has talent who makes it in the major league.
I could never make it in the major league, but
(17:12):
I can contribute, you know. You know that was the difference.
There's nineties seven percent of us in America can can
connect to that instead of the one three of people
have the skill in town. Kobe Bryant says its best.
I have all the late Kobe Bryant says it best.
He says, I have all the skill and talent. But
(17:34):
if I had work ethic like Rudy and worked hard
every day, he got better, where would I be? Twenty
years from now. All Rudy wanted was this one moment.
But he looked how hard he had to work for
his one moment, you know, and most people would quit
because they don't see the value of it. But Rudy did,
and uh, I see my value. Yeah. I made mistakes,
(17:57):
but we learned from our mistakes. And I forget people
who put me down, who yelled at me, or people
who made front of I had to forgive too. I
forgive people who And that was a secret. That's a
big secret, by the way, that's a secret sauce forgiving,
forgiving people. Yeah, because man, if you live in if
(18:20):
you live on that other side, life is a miserable
Just be happy that they put you down and put
you in a position to make you fight harder. So
I always thank people for that. Thank God. Not the
name was tough on me. I wouldn't have a movie,
you know, Yeah, for sure. All right, y'all, a quick
break from Walkie Talkies Podcast. I know Rudy has been
(18:41):
dropping bombs of wisdom here in the first twenty minutes,
but let's take a quick break and we'll be right back.
And we're back here on Walkie Talkies Podcast with our
guest today, Rudy Rudiger. Please remember to subscribe to the show,
download the episodes, drop us a comment, drop us a review,
follow us on social media. Is at w TC podcast
And let's bring back in Rudy Rudiger. So Coach r
(19:02):
a Persian. He was actually said to be. Uh, he
was a head. He was a legendary head coach at
the time when you first got there. And he was
said to be the one that was actually encouraging two
walk ons and kind of gave you some valuable time
with him. And there was Mike Ourriard, he was also
a walk on, got an NFL contract with the Chiefs
a couple of years prior to your time. Is that?
(19:23):
Is that notion true about Coach Persian, that he he
was pretty encouraging to you. Uh. I met coach Parcegi
and now you'll like this, all right. I showed up
at six am in the morning where he showed up
for work. And I didn't know this until I approached him.
(19:43):
And I was a little nervous because you know, if
I'm gonna go to Notre Dam, I gotta get that
coach to know me because they don't accept junior walk
ons know I'm gonna be a junior. Say, I gotta
let him know I'm coming. And as he pulled up
in his car, I got really nervous, but at the
same time something inside to me. Let him know what
you're doing. And as he opened the doors, Hey, coach,
(20:06):
Ruddy Rudiger, he said, who, said, Ruddy Rudiger. I was
in the Navy. So you're in the Navy, So was I.
Where'd you serve? And I told him, you know, in
the Mediterraneans And I served. I had my training at
great Like said, so did I. He says, when did
you get out? I said, just about a year ago.
He said, my god, So what are you doing here?
So I want to try it for the football team. Hey,
(20:29):
when you get in you had Holy Cross. That what
you're saying, Yes, sir said, when you get in, you
come and see me. That was it. He Navy connection,
he knew, Yeah, he knew I had the veteran you know,
the heart, commitment, the attitude. Uh So he wasn't looking
(20:49):
for my talent. But when I did show up, you
still had to earn his respect. You just don't show
up because he said to and and you don't make
the team. When you show up, you gotta you know,
get second handings second. I mean it's everything second or
third everything. And you don't even get to eat with
(21:12):
the team after practice because your name is not on
the meal list. So you gotta talk your way into that.
And you don't dressing the football locker you're dressed in
the baseball locker room. They tried everything to discourage you
from being part of every team. Everything was separated like that. Yeah,
that's the way it was. That's because scholarship players get
(21:34):
the locker room. Walk on, you have to earn your
way into that locker room. You just don't show up
and say, I'm no, you have to earn your way.
Are you willing to pay the price? Uh? A walk on?
Does everything? Uh? Hold bags, stand in the cold into
go through the drills. Uh. And they would always say
(21:56):
you're never gonna walk through that. Holy cow. The most
important thing is I think they just made me realize
that some of these guys are lazy. They're just entitled
so I could out work them. Right. It's funny that
you say guys were entitled, you know, back in nineteen seventy. Obviously,
(22:17):
entitlement has always existed, but like I've just wrapped up
my five years of playing, and one of the biggest
things I've always noticed from my own walk on position
was like Jesus, look at how entitled all of these
guys with scholarships are, you know, and how easy it
is for them to be entitled and not even realize
the actual good position that they're in versus what they
(22:39):
could be in. Um So, I think it's interesting, you
know that. I don't know fifty years ago it was
the same mold, but you guys had it even worse
like you were, you know, essentially, I don't know how
many walk Ons there were with you that were in
another locker room with you that didn't dress with you.
Maybe three ended up staying. It was said three guys
(23:01):
ended up So what was like a what was like
a day to day for you there? That was different
aside from the eating the locker room and they're not
dressing that I was so excited just being there because
now I'm I'm about with the best football team in
the land. That's how I looked at it, and how
many guys would love to be here, But other guys
(23:22):
didn't look at it like I looked at it, you know. Uh,
they looked at it like. Uh, They're like they were
supposed to be there. No you're not. You gotta earn
your way here, dude. You know, just because you were
in All American high school doesn't mean you're gonna make
it here. Even some of the walk ons were All
Americans in high school. They think they could show up
and make the team, and they get discouraged real easy
(23:45):
when things aren't going away. It's that entitlement attitude. Um.
And when you don't have that entitlement attitudes there, I
have to earn it. It's a whole new ballgame. Uh.
You look, you appreciate the socks you get. You appreciate
the wash in your jock, you know bad, you know,
all the little things that they take for granted. Oh
(24:07):
my god, if I get in the locker room, how
awesome would that be? How awesome would it be to
have gold pants to walk out to practice instead of
white pants? How great would it be to have a
helmet that fit or should the parts that fit? Uh?
And they paid attention to you as you walked into
the training room, and they take your feet and your
(24:27):
ankles like they take the other scholarship players. You walked in,
they don't. They don't even want you there, that's the
feeling they give you. But yet a fight for every
little yes, so they didn't. They gave you that feeling
almost all the time. They didn't want you there. And
(24:48):
it was it just an aura or was it sometimes
words were being said or not. Energy is very strong,
you know, of like oh, you know, excuse my language,
but oh funk this guy like to us like that.
You were always looked down upon. Yeah, it's more why
it's why you out here, dude? Like you got no chance?
(25:10):
What do you do right? Why you why you're gonna
get killed out here? You know? Now? Was that predominantly
for you because you were five six? There's a lot
of wannabes that show up, you know, and they and
they try to discourage the wannabes. But what Air loved
and what he saw that I jumped up when I
(25:33):
got hit and came right back at it. And he
would say, man, you guys should be more like Rudy,
you know, and and that that came later on though, uh,
And they invited me back when he left Notre Dame.
A new coach came in some of the old coaches
stayed with the new coach, and they said, we gotta
(25:54):
keep this walk on kid, Rudy. So they invited me
back for fallball. And that's when you get your gold
pants and your jersey without the name. The only time
you get name on your jersey if you dressed for
a game. Any time, you're getting the record book. If
you stepped on that field playing, just because you dressed
for a game, you will not get in the record book.
(26:16):
Or you're not being that football roster unless you play.
Is that crazy? So you had uh coach Era, then
you hadne coach Dan Devine. He was an NFL coach, yes,
from the pros Green Bay pack It was with the Packers, right,
So what was you know, if any what was like
(26:37):
a difference that you had in your initial conversations and
relationships with coach Parsigian and then coach Divine? Like what changed?
Was it better? Was it worse? Totally respected me? And
he did he respected He respected me towards the end
and he was kind of like rooting for me, right
happy uh not saying he would verbally say, but hey, Rudy,
(27:00):
how you doing? You know, things like that. He gave
you better energy. Better energy. Divine comes in, doesn't know you.
He's got to come and make a difference right away.
He can't worry about walk ons. He's got to worry
about scholarships. He's got to worry about kids that can
make a difference. So that became another challenge. So you
had to redo what you just went through. But now
(27:22):
you're part of that team because you're invited back for
fall football, and now you get a locker room. Now
you get the gold pants. Now you're part of it.
Now you're treated and you're all get to eat with
the team. Your first year was your junior year, you
didn't get to eat, you didn't get the locker room,
you didn't get the gold pants. But your second year
(27:43):
with coach Divine, which was your senior year, you then
earned those three things. And now you feel better about
yourself and guys start accepting you differently as well. Uh,
because you're part of the team, you're part of that
officially a part of the team. Yeah. So okay, so
what were you doing your first year there? Like, were
(28:04):
you just were you still practicing? Yeah? You like the bag,
you know, whatever they wanted, you know, practice like a
hitting dummy, like running over what like, we need guys
over here, all this bag. You know, we need some
scout guys over here, and you run over and volunteer
for anything, just volunteer a lot of standing around to
(28:25):
standing around, you know at that time when it's called out,
you know, yeah, it's bad because you don't have the
inside to practice and they make your stand out there
and it's freezing cold, raine Fleet all that and you
had to go through all that. Well, you know, other
guys were kind of pampered, you know. Yeah, So second year,
(28:49):
you know, those three things change. You get gold pants,
you get to be in the locker room, you get
to eat the meals with them, you're on the meal list.
You're starting to feel more acclimated, more part of the team.
What changed in practice was it still very similar prex
rol because the online says like, oh, you made the
scout teams. What does that mean? Like your scout team is, Yeah,
the scout team is you get the varsity ready for
(29:11):
the game. That's a big by the way, that's a
big responsibility. Let's we're playing Purdue. You had to be perdue,
you had to learn other place you couldn't learn to
note the name places. You had to know the Purdue place,
so you always learned the opponent's place so they could
respond and react differently. The scout players are uh really,
(29:32):
you know, I respect any scout player because man, it's hard.
It's tough. So I was going through the same stuff
the scholarship some of the scholarship kids were going through.
When they complain, I wouldn't complain and say, man, we're fine.
You know, I earned a respect through not saying anything,
just working harder. And kids would see that. Some kids
(29:54):
would getting inspired by that and they would work hard.
But you don't know a kid that you're gonna inspire. Uh.
That gave up his uniform for me to dress was
Captains of the Notre Dame football Because of the dress
list was cut down by sixty kids. Now, Partision promised
every senior they would dress for their senior day and
(30:16):
that's a hundred ten total kids would dress for the
Now now we only have sixty. I'm not one of
the sixty kids, so it's kind of like I was committed,
but going against the grand You're never gonna dress, Rudy,
why are you out here? But at the end of
the day, they needed, you know. Okay, so if they
(30:36):
have sixty guys that dress, those sixty guys, I'm assuming
we're guys that were all gonna play. So then you
said you had a hundred ten total. That means you
have another sixty fifty to sixty guys on your team
that are either all walk ons or scholarship powers who
just weren't good enough to play, and very little walk
ons now because most of the walk ons don't stay
(30:59):
they they don't stay right, so a lot how do
you even get on the scout team if there's a
ton more scholarship guys who don't play that hard? And
is that that was the case? You you jumped the
line to get here and put myself in there without
you know, you just show up and gets get yourself involved.
(31:20):
Football is kind of like that, uh And coaches like
that because they like that energy spirit getting the team
rallied up. Not that you're not that you were a
raw rock kid. You just put yourself you know, they're
to make it difference, put your body online, showed that
you're a team first guy. I'm sure all of those things.
(31:43):
Some guys did not like you for that. Some of
your teammates. Oh yeah, we showed her in the movie
at one moment. That's a true moment. But it happened there. Always,
I'm always getting in fights on the field with guys
who don't want to work hard. Um over, I'm making
them work. Hey, what are you doing? You know? Um?
(32:05):
And I was on a boxing team at Notre Name
and and I would box and also beat some of
the football players that were also on the boxing team.
So I earned a lot of respect there. I earned
respect a little by little by little. Uh, and it
paid off when came to my last and my senior game.
(32:25):
They one kid gave up, gave up his uniform. Uh.
But the captains went in and talked to the defensive coach,
and they went in and talked to Divine and his staff.
People said they need one kid wants to give up
his uniform, so this route of your kid could dress.
And they allowed that. And uh, the kids, I didn't
(32:47):
know this, And you never know this because you don't
ask guys, Hey, do you like me? Man? Am I
do it all right? You don't have you just do
your job, pack your lunch buck, go to work. That's
what I was taught, you know. And it's like at
the power plant, you go to work, do your job,
and uh what my friend died at the power plant
(33:10):
because he took a shortcut. And I made a commitment
no more shortcuts for me, whether it's football, school or whatever,
because let's you end up in a bad spot. So
that was a lesson I learned from that moment. But
my whole point is, like going to class every day
was important. I wouldn't skip class because I don't want
(33:31):
to miss out, because I couldn't miss out on anything
because you no, academically, I'm not the smartest get in
that classroom, but I could ask a lot of questions
to get through and that all paid off. So everything
pays off by being in love. But you were. You
would say that like something that you know helped you,
but probably during the moment made a bit more difficult
(33:53):
because you were a pest to these guys. You were
a hard worker, you got in the way, you opened
your mouth and yeah, and it bugged him because it
was like, look look at this little guy. Somethence of best,
just Stallan said. I wrote him in a letter in
two asking him, can you help me get a movie idea? Me?
And he writes me back, not my cup of tea
(34:15):
at this time, but good luck. I meet him at
uh well because of doing a press junket. Fast forward,
fast forward to get the movie made. Movies out, Uh,
we're going to promote the movie, and he happens to
be part of the studio that I was part of,
Sony Pictures. They had Cliffhanger, the movie Cliffhanger and make
(34:38):
a long story short, stallans there with's revolted and I
finally meet stallone on even playing field and he respected
that because he heard about me trying to get the
movie made knocking doors down like he did, and they
respect that. I didn't know that, And he says, I
think I like to be remembered as someone who beat
(34:59):
the odds through just plain determination. That's what I was.
That I was not just dogmatic about the whole thing
that I preserved because I think being somewhat of a
pest of life, constantly playing, plaguing and pursuing will bring results.
If nothing else, your voice will be heard because you
(35:20):
have become such a pain in the ass, anything to
get rid of him. It's that kind of thing, you know.
It's like that wonderful movie Rudy. You think of that
five ft six guy and I met him. He's the
only person to be carried off the field that Notre
Dame and took a beating only because he was a
pest in a positive sense. He pestered life to it,
(35:42):
gave in. That's a still long quote from his cigar aficionado.
And we met, uh, like I said in l A
in Vegas, and he respected to see two at that
same journey. All the underdog respect that type of That's
what I'm saying. There are players who respected that as well.
(36:03):
But you don't know who that guy is, right, You
don't go up to your team and say you're gonna
carry me off the film. Man if I play, you
don't do that. Hey, you're gonna get me in the
game if I suit up. No, you're just happy to
get a jersey with no name, and you're suiting up
and you and you're so excited. You run through that tunnel.
(36:25):
Now you want to play, But you can't go up
to your team. You're saying, man, I gotta play. They
put you in the game because the student body chant
your name, not the stadium. And whatever the student body does,
the stadium does so all that's real. You know, that's special. Yeah,
it's it's it's funny that I you know, through the
word pest out there and Sylvester Salone had a direct
(36:48):
quote where he was calling you a positive pest. Super
cool because yeah, I mean, like it's like this persistent
attitude of you know, if you want to get what
you want, you don't really care what's in the way
or who's telling you know. You know, That's what I've
picked up is that you know, people can tell you
and put a limit on you and what they think
of you. But you know, as long as you if
you think more of yourself, which you clearly thought more
(37:10):
of yourself, that like, you know, you would put so
much into this that you would be deserving of at
least one little thing, which is what you were asking for.
And you know, did did quitting ever cross your mind? Right?
Like every day I was like, how do I get
through this? That's why you need mentors in your life
and friends to push it through those tough times. You
(37:31):
can't do this alone, there's no way. That's why you
need good people. One guy or three guys doesn't matter.
You can't go to the people who doubt you or
people who perceive you as you know, what are you
doing here? You stay away from that now, like, for example,
you have a great voice, right, and you're smart, and
(37:53):
it comes across that way and and it's almost like wow, man, guys,
I like where he's going and I like listening. You're engaging.
But how many people have told you that? You know?
I mean, how many people have you got up to
and ask, hey, my engage in And you know, it
just happens, you understand with passion and and the fact
(38:15):
that we struggled to get on the air today because
I don't know anything about Chrome and said, oh rime,
I got Chrome. What's he talking about? Messing with my computer?
And you're sitting there waiting for me. You were a
patient finally figured it out. There's a little thing on
my computer, says Chrome. So I went there and there's
a little box of all these doubts. I hit that
(38:37):
box and my email comes up. I said, all good, Now,
I could do it. But it's just, you know, I
speak for a living though, and I every day it
surprises me. The people you reach through this movie. You
don't know. But you don't ask that either. You just
go out there and you get the best people involved
(39:00):
with putting this message across an ordinary people help you
get to those people. Uh. And a male man a
hotel managing helped me get to the right people. But
you never know who could help you get there. That's
why you don't get the door and anyone. Yeah, it's
crazy because you know, I always I grew up around
and I have great parents and they've they've always instilled
(39:20):
like kind of what you said in the beginning about
it isn't always about what you know, it's about who
you know. And I've always I just loved you know,
even when I talk to people kids who are younger
than me and they're trying to like find their way
into the basketball world, it's like listen, man, Like it's
just about who you know. If you run into the
right person and you have a good first impression, blah
blah blah, you never know what can come out of it.
(39:42):
So I I always I love holding onto stuff like that.
So what what what did you hold onto in those
moments of quitting? Like you said, you had mentors, but
you know you stuck with your faith when I was
in the military Navy that you know, it's not easy
being in the middle ocean seasick. You gotta perform, you
(40:03):
do and man war us going on during Vietnam and
you're a middle of the Jordan crisis and you don't
know whether you're gonna they're gonna sink the ship or
you just do your job. Don't worry about it. All
that crazy stuff. It hasn't happened, has it. No, it hasn't.
We live in an illusion a lot of us. We we
we we we create fear uh and we create all
(40:27):
these uh mental blocks that stop us from doing great things.
That's why you can't allow fear in your mind set
uh or doubt. You're gotta get rid of all that.
Just do what you're supposed to do and the rust
will take care of itself. And that's what I believe in. UM.
I had a kid who played basketball for l S Shoes,
(40:49):
a walk On um Brandon Landry owns like, yeah, walk On,
he's a good kid. You should interview him. We tried
getting him on the podcast, didn't didn't work out, but
I mean I still could be up in the air.
We got in touch with his people and I'm gonna
give you, Brandon, you know what I'm gonna make sure
he gets on your part. I will make sure that
(41:12):
you know what happens when you know they You know,
brand is a great guy. I'm sure he's super He
would love to talk to you, and I think you
would have a lot in common. All right, Walkie talk
his last quick break coming up. But don't go anywhere,
because when we come back, we're gonna really tie in
the end of Rudy's Notre Dame journey. He's going to
touch on the stigma of walk on and if you know,
we're kind of originated from back in his day in
(41:34):
the nineteen seventies, and just so much cool stuff to
kind of wrap up Part one of the episode that's
coming right up here on Walkie Talkies Podcast. Please make
sure you are subscribed to the show. Follow us on
social media is at w t Z podcast. Leave the
show a review any of the three if you only
want to do one, pick one. I'll be fine with
any of the three of those that you choose. I
thank you and we'll be right back. And Walkie Talkies
(41:58):
Podcast on the College Athletes Network is back home stretch
of Part one with our guest Rudy Rudiger. Let's get
right back into it. What would you say, Like, you know,
you you had some back and forth with your teammates
and you were pesty, and there was all these kind
of stuff going on, and they have the stigma around
you of like, what what are you doing here? Why
are you here? Would you say, I don't know how
(42:19):
up to date you are with the current you know,
world of walk ons and how they are treated and
what's gotten better and what's changed and what stayed the same.
But would you say that the stigma around walk on
you know that you dealt with exists still today in
a certain capacity capacity, but it's totally different. They look
(42:41):
at what a preferred walk on. That's a difference, Yes,
preferred walk on, a regular walk on. Uh, they don't
treat you like a preferred walk on. A preferred walk
on is Hey, we like you to come out and
try but when you're just a regular walk on, they
don't ask you to come. Well, you're gonna you gotta
(43:01):
try out, yeah, yeah, yeah, and then you gotta go
through that, you know. Yeah, the rigorous end of just
even being treated like an equal person. Yeah, it's very lonely,
and it's like scary because you're like I know what
I want out of this, but I think that there's
too many weighing factors that are making this feel like
(43:23):
it's entirely impossible to do. And that's when when you're
eighteen or nineteen years old. You know, Fortunately for you,
you were a little bit older and you had a
lot more experience under your belt being in the Navy
and things like that. But if I, if I were
to bring it to my own experience as like a
nineteen twenty year old, like I was petrified of, like, wait,
these people are telling me I can't do this, so
(43:44):
that must mean I can't do it, you know what
I mean? Like you didn't have the perspective to know
anything else that that's the problem. You're high school coach
could have been a goofball, right, Our teachers could have
been bad. I just experienced a young boy Notre Dame
about uh. Right before the summer break um, I was
(44:04):
given a speech at Notre Dame. I noticed his mother
and him were sitting in the restaurant where I was sitting.
He had a Notre Dame boxing hand on him Notre
Dame boxing shirt, but it didn't look like a friend
of conversation. It looked like there's a little stress there,
and so I kind of walked over and I said,
just to come the feelings down because the mother looked
(44:26):
upset and I said, oh wow, they're going through something.
I said, hey, guys, how are you doing? Oh fine,
I said tom I don't know his name was. Tommy
said you box for Notre Dame. Said yeah. The mother
said not anymore. Oh. I said, what what happened? He
just failed out of Notre day, I said, he did.
Can I sit down here? I said, I went to
(44:50):
the same type of failing. What's your name? Son, says?
Tommy said Tommy, Uh, you want to go back to
Notre Dame? Said yes, I do. I said, okay, well
you mind, if I sit down, I'll give you a
game plan because that was given to me at holy
Cross Junior College when I walked in. Was a game plan.
I never had a game plans. I saw the gentleman
(45:11):
who gave me a game plan, and I said, I
have a little experience with that, ma'am. I went to
holy Cross and transfer another name, but it wasn't easy
for me. Oh my god, is you're not rudy? Are you?
Because they know who you are now Holy Cross Transfer
and I said, yes, I am. I said, oh my god,
how can you help Tommy? I said, it's gonna be
(45:32):
up to Tommy number one, not up to you or me.
It's gonna be totally up to Tommy. I said, Tommy,
you want to go back and not Day said yeah,
all right. Here. First step you do is, uh, you
can go back to your council or go back to
the people who failed you at the emissions, and uh,
You're not gonna ask him what you did wrong. You
already know what you did wrong. You didn't do your work,
(45:55):
or you failed, and there's a reason why you failed.
What was the reason? He said? I was locked in
my room for eight king day because of COVID I
have and the mother said he has eight he went
he went crazy. I said, I understand that. So that's
that's all right. We're gonna overcome that. I said, But
you're gonna go back and find out what you need
to do now to get back in. That's number one.
(46:16):
Then you're gonna come back to my speech, come back
here in my speech. Number two. Where do you live?
A says Long Island, New York. I said, good, I
can help you. I have a friend that's athletic director.
You can go back this summer and you're gonna help
this fall. It was because he was let going in
the middle of the semester. So you're gonna go back
(46:36):
and you're gonna intern from my buddy that's an athletic
director there while you're taking the course that you're just
supposed to take. And you're gonna do all that because
you need a job, because you're gonna learn how to
manage your time. He said, will you do that? I said, yes,
all right, then you come to my speech and we'll
go from there. And he just got back readmitted to
(46:57):
Notre Dame uh for this semester and you know the reason,
and here's why because so uh let me let me
just um this is important because he was ready to
give up. And just like many times, I wanted to
(47:17):
give up, but I didn't give up because someone comes
and saved me, you know, and I saw a boy
he needs it. Let me read you this real quick, say, hey, Rudy,
how are you? We are at Notre Dame now. I
can't believe the day is finally here. Although Tommy was
home for seven months when it was so quick, but
it's so good to be back. You always seem to
(47:40):
come into our lives the most opportune times, after not
texting for weeks. You choose. You chose the day we
were leaving for Notre Dame to send these pictures. I
always feel like it's a side. I meant to text
you two days ago, but my luggage was lost and
I had no clothes or toiletries when we arrived in Chicago,
(48:02):
so I had to run the target. Blah blah blah.
Needless to say, my leggage has been found and things
are looking brighter. Tommy is at brunch now for re
admitted students. Isn't that great? I am thankful Notre Dame
has given him another chance. I praise succeed because I
know he belongs there here. He's a perfect s a
(48:24):
t perfect a student in high school, captain of his
hockey team. Blah blah blah. And just that one little moment,
I think he had a D eight. He couldn't handle that,
and no one comes to his rescue to help him.
You understand where I had friends at Notre Dame. Whether
he was a janitor, whether he was a student, whether
(48:45):
he was a tutor, all helped me get through those
moments because we all have him. He didn't have that,
and I said, you need you, you you and I
need to connect. And that's how it all happened. I
didn't pestor I'm just doing. We kept in touch. He
worked for my friend as an intern. I got great
grades from that, and it did well to get back
(49:08):
into Notre Dame. But how many times how many times
have you seen as a walk on basketball that someone
and kept you going? Not many, not a lot, a lot,
but that one person who had right It gets you
through your moments of doubt, gets you through your mom
(49:30):
Maybe I am contributing. See the contribution attitude was I
came into my mindset very important for me. So you
ultimately have your one shining moment that you dreamed of
and you said you didn't want to be an All American.
You kind of just wanted to step on the field
for Notre Dame football, even if it was literally for
just one second, and you got the chance to do it.
We all know the you know, memorable moment. Did you
(49:53):
ever think that when you got the chance to dress
for that Georgia Tech game that you would actually get
in the game. Like, did you think during that time,
like I'm gonna play? Oh yeah, absolutely, because I went
to practice every day like I was supposed to play.
I practiced like an All American. Something funny about that
that I think it when I was I was listening
(50:14):
to some of your YouTube interviews and I was I
was reading stuff, and they said that the coach I
was just going to throw you in on offense, and
you said no, and then you end up going in
on the kickoff and then you played defensive end hot
like you clearly didn't really have a set position, right,
So you know, those guys put me in the game.
Go for me. Just go Rudy. I don't know where
(50:36):
to go it, just just go go a defensive vent.
So I went in, uh, and you know the rest
is history. One of the most memorable iconic plays with
you sacking the quarterback, you know, hundred hundred sixty five
pounds five six waterback in high school. You're two hundred
pounds all right? Said they lie about it. Yeah, you
were stocking there, notre dame. I lifted weights, got you know,
(50:59):
you had to absorb the shock in high school with
six one, right, So they didn't they didn't upgrades your
your college stats. I was when I was reading them, like,
there's no way he stayed. There's no way. So a
couple of quick things just before we wrap up part one. Here,
do you remember the feeling when it happened, when when
you cross the line you stack sacked the quarterback like
(51:20):
you were like, you can relive that over and all
you relive. I'm glad I didn't quit. That was right? Yeah,
that that you know, twenty seven seconds was all the
glory you need to play twenty seven seconds And man,
I'm glad I didn't quit. You know, you look at
all the little angels that showed up in your life
that kept you going because your mindset was positive. That's
(51:43):
when they show up in That's when you see it.
A lot of times we don't recognize those angels. I
call them angels because our mindsets thinking negative uh at
a time. Not the truth? Uh? Is the truth? What
are you doing? What are you doing about it? Are
you contributing? Are you moving and forward? You have that belief, um,
(52:08):
you know all that it happens when it's supposed to happen. Um,
Just like the movie. If I would have rushed that movie,
I had patience. I said, there's no, there's I can't.
I don't have to do this movie now it's one
it's supposed to when I understand the movie and the message.
It took time, just like my speaking took years for
(52:29):
me to develop my speaking skill. Your your m O though,
is patients. Like your your motto is patients sacrifice, self
awareness and and and ultimately developing, you know, the self
esteem to go through those that that journey, those two
years and then even the years prior where you weren't
playing football and you were doing you know, hard labor
(52:51):
and you were in the Navy, like you didn't really
have at any point from when you graduated high school
up until that moment at the end of Notre Dame
a sweet ride, you know what I mean? Like it
it feels like from just a little that I know,
like you had to really instill in yourself, like I'm
not going to get what i want unless I'm patient
and then I can. You know, So, is that is
(53:14):
that what you would you say? That that you know
the patients and those is there any other pillars that
you may be held onto alongside that? In yourself? Was
the key? Believe in yourself? In yourself and whatever. It
didn't matter what other people said about you. I don't
care what you say. It doesn't matter. It's what I
believe in that matters. And I'm not I'm not gonna
(53:39):
go what you say about me because you're criticized. I mean,
you must be not liking yourself. So what So what
do you say about people, especially like since you've you're
now on the other side of it, where you're an
adult and you have all this wisdom, what do you
say two people or about people who are in those
positions of power and they put a limit on a kid,
(54:02):
like they tell a kid just because they've seen a
an amount of them, like yeah, you're only this good,
or you can only be that good, or you're only
going to be able to do this, and then you
see you know the examples I like to use, or
like Duncan Robinson in the NBA, you went from a
D three National championship to signing the biggest undrafted NBA contracts,
So what do you say to those I did address
(54:23):
the coach I saw treat kids pretty bad if they
didn't do the right So one day it was at
the right time, I saying, coach How important is it
for you to win at this age with these kids?
Very important? Really, you think they're gonna remember that game
ten years from though? Are they going to remember you
(54:45):
how you treated him? Think about that. That's that's your legacy, dude.
I mean that kid's gonna think about how you treated
him or how you impacted their lives, not whether they
won or lost that game. You know, stop it. I said,
build these kids come turns and who they are because
(55:06):
just kids. Why do they put them on Why do
they put especially in your era, why are they why
do they even want kids? Kids? Because they're losers. So
the kids are losers. By treating it as a loser,
he's living through the kid instead of developing the kid
(55:27):
and developing them for the future to be better. So
he's taking his own ship out on the kid. And
and so you think that's why sometimes or at least
to a certain degree, that there's that need to have
welcome then of a person confuse. You don't let the
position of a person confusion. So he's treating me like shit.
(55:50):
That means he's living through whatever he's living through, he
doesn't have confidence in himself, and he's taking it out
on you taking it out and you're the great ones.
The great ones always remind you you gotta work harder
and you can get better. Uh, those are the great coaches.
And I'm not gonna name him, but I know, yeah,
(56:10):
we all we all know the great ones, and I
know I treated their teammates right. It's sad because there's
a lot of kids who have big dreams too, you know,
even if they're not, even if they're they're in a
situation like yourself where it's like, I just want a moment.
I don't care about being an All American or playing
in the NFL anything. They just want a moment, you know,
(56:31):
like I always think about for me, like and I
can laugh about it now, but like I never hit
a Division one three pointer. Never did. I only scored
two points in my Division one career, had like maybe
two assists, and I never hit a three. And I
and the reason that sticks out to me because I
grew up a three point shooter, like my m O was.
I'm a shooter. So I always hope. I think it's
funny because it's like, you know, you can being put
(56:53):
in these situations where like if you're not around the
right people, you never know, you know, you can really
be you know, sunken down. And sometimes it's completely out
of the players control. I'm not even really talking about
myself anymore. Just in general, there's players that can put
in these situations where they think it's one thing and
then it becomes another and now and you're still a
walk on. You're paying your own tuition, you're in debt,
(57:16):
you're you know, you're grinding it out with the rest
of these guys. And a lot of times it's just
like you said, like you want to quit all the time,
and it always comes back to like for what you know,
because what are what are the odds? What go back
and tell us, like, what what were the odds that
what happened for you happened? They were they're probably you
know what would you say half? I mean, yeah, one
(57:37):
out of a million. Yeah, it's I look at as
I go through airports today and I do look at
all the people. I said, Oh my god, they made
my movie, you know, And I'm only one out of
millions of people. And uh, maybe in one hand you
can count the movies they made out of individuals, you know, Uh,
(57:59):
maybe two hands. I don't know, but I can't you know.
But Rudy stands out there. Hey, look no, we're gonna
go to Park two. Absolutely because you're awesome and I love, uh,
this conversation. Let's appreciate this, so let's do want to
clack my napper, I can get my work out and
I can look good for you. Alright, my god, I
(58:19):
really appreciate this. I'm looking for you, man, alright, thank you,
appreciate it. Part two coming up. Brothers and Sisters. Walkie
Talkies is a production of I Heart Radio and the
College Athletes Network. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio,
visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
(58:40):
you get your podcasts.
Walkie Talkies is a production of I Heart Radio and
the College Athletes Network. Hello Yeah, Rudy Rude. Hello, Hello guys,
(00:32):
Welcome into Walkie Talkies podcast. Man, this w t Z sixteen.
We got a two part series today here on the
College Athletes Network, featured on I Heart Radio with one of,
if not the most famous and legendary walk on's the
world has ever known, the man himself, Rudy Rudiger. I'm
your host, Noah Bono. Man, I'm really happy to be
here today and putting out this two part series episode
(00:54):
with Rudy. It's just crazy, man. You know, this is
a walk on podcast, guys, Like we focus on the
journeys and the successes of college athletes, former and current
walk ons and their journeys as walk ons and what
they do later in life and the successes that they
have that are correlated directly with the walk on journeyman.
And and and that's literally Rudy, Like, the guy was a
walk on, had a trials and tribulations, but ultimately had
(01:15):
his one shining moment and he was able to turn
that journey that he had those two years into a
movie into a lifelong inspirational story and that's where we're
at today. Man like the Man the mid the legend,
like Rudy Rudiger, like the ultimate walk On, the epitome
of walk On Man, like the guy at the forefront
of the walk On Journeyman joined the podcast. So what
(01:36):
a time. So I'll explain the structure of the episode
briefly so listeners can kind of know what to expect
to hear from both episodes, But essentially we go chronologically,
you know, from him leaving the Navy and his work
at an industrial plan to go on the Holy Cross,
and then into his Notre Dame journey and just everything
that came inside that journey as a walk On there.
Part two is heavily focused on the making of the
(01:57):
movie and how Rudy went about selling the film and
the hoops that he had to jump through, and the
people he had to connect with just to get that
all in play, and getting Note Dame on board, and
then touching on some of the comments that people have
made throughout the years about what's true and what's not true.
All that's coming in part two and so much more
than I'm not even mentioning, however, guys, it's freaking Rudy
(02:17):
I mean, I couldn't be more excited. I could have
listened to the man talk all day. He's got so
much great perspective and it's just so much wisdom on
all sorts of things that helped propel his journey more
and more, and so I'm just so grateful and excited
that he shared it all on the podcast. And lastly,
if you guys can just remember to subscribe to Walkie
Tucky's podcast and download the episodes and leave the show.
(02:37):
Leave some episodes a review, you can drop some stars,
you can write a little comment. Those things are really
really appreciated. They do a lot for the show. So
I want to thank you guys in advance for that.
And that's it. Time for me to shut the hell up,
you know the drill. So here's part one of my
conversation with the legend Rudy Rudiger. How are you, sir?
Thank you for taking the time to do this. I appreciate.
I can't believe I got to your brother. You're on
(02:59):
Safari right, yeah? And then he says Google Chrome. Yeah, anyhow,
we're here, that's what counts. Yeah. Um, now, hey, where'd
you go to school? Uh? So I went to actually
went to three colleges. I'm from New Jersey and I
went to two colleges out in Jersey. Uh one for
two years. I went to Writer University, I went to
(03:19):
Ramapo for a year, and then I'm currently in Pittsburgh.
I just graduated from Duquesne. Good for you. So you've
been on a little journey journey voice for the radio.
Thank you, I appreciate it. Um. Yeah, I've been on
a quite the quite the walk on journey. That's what's
inspired me to um start this show. So uh with guests,
(03:41):
I kind of like to start the interviews is like
from right where their walk on journeys began. And for you,
there was a slight pause after high school. You enlisted
into the Navy, I think it was for two years,
and then you did some industrial work after that, going
before going to college. Is that correct? That's absolutely right.
Uh it's a little kind of confusing at first because
(04:03):
of the academic status that I had from high school. Uh,
the dream wasn't realistic basically, but uh, the feeling was there,
so we could talk about all that. How did you
make that feeling into something real? Yeah? Absolutely, So you
know you go to holy Cross after you get denied
(04:25):
from Notre Dame a couple of times, and you spent
two years there and you finally get into accepted into
Notre Dame. How many times did you apply to Notre
Dame and how old were you at that point when
you spent your last two years at night? It was
the last two years when I graduated. But but the
story really begins back when going to church with my family,
(04:47):
because I'm one of fourteen and and my dad three jobs.
The only time he was happy is one Notre name one.
And and if you if you would go to Notre
Dame as a little Catholic boy, you're going to heaven.
And I think everybody w to go to heaven at
that point. But anyway, that's where it kind of started. Also,
(05:09):
it was it came out that you were kind of
struggling with dyslexia correct and it was like it was
a learning disorder no one understood, and that was very
painful because no one understood why you couldn't read, why
the other kids could read or pay attention, and it
was out because of dyslexia. And you find out later
(05:31):
once once you end up going where no one knows you,
and people expect you to do good things. It was
a navy and you you don't have everybody critiquing you.
You don't have anybody putting you in a position of
I call resentment in or embarrassment. They just expect you
(05:57):
to work as a team and collaborate as a team.
And boy, what a difference. And that that's where I understood.
I just got duked by my education. It's not about
what you know, it's about who you know to help
you get to what you need to know. You know,
and that that's the key. But education is very good
and very powerful. Uh, you have to if you're gonna
(06:21):
be a document better, you better know your stuff or
an accountant or a lawyer or but you know, I'm
not gonna be neither of those. So what do I
need to get all those courses that are wasting my
time and energy when I could be learning things that
develop my skill I didn't understand that. But today what's
interesting in what a group of people developing charter schools
(06:43):
for skill sets like UH, aircraft mechanics, Automo automotive mechanics,
wood shop, metal shop, walden, cosmetology, um, anything that can
need to have a skill. So I could walk out
and have a job. And uh, that's what was kind
(07:05):
of interesting. When I was going to go, they kind
of put that down because you weren't taking chemistry, you
were taking woodshot. They made front of you. Kids made
you feel bad, But that was education, that that was
the pain. But you realize years later, hey, that's what
we need. We need our kids have a skill. And
but I had. I had to learn everything the hard way,
(07:26):
which is probably what I needed. So I wouldn't be
entitled to anything. Had to work for it. So the
dyslexia definitely impacted you from Holy Cross to Notre Dame
and beyond. Or was there a point where you find
I think when I came home from the Navy, it
wasn't that I was looking for holy Cross. Uh. When
(07:46):
my friend died at the factory, he and I had
a conversation always Uh, he was in the Navy as well,
and he says, I'm wasting my time here. You're talking
about going to places like Notre Dame. Why you still here?
And I would say, because I'm not academically, you know,
qualified to go to Notre Dame. He said, that's a
(08:07):
bunch of nonsense. And he would always say that said,
look at you, Look at the work you're doing here.
You've gotta be smart to do what you're doing. Yeah, well,
on paper, i'm not. He says, yeah, well, don't live
and regret, son, and you should be out of here
doing your dream. Well then he dies, and that's the message,
loud and clear, don't live and regret. No shortcuts left.
(08:30):
My job went towards Notre Dame to find out what
I needed to do to get there. That's a big difference.
I already knew why I couldn't. Now what do I
need to do to get there? And then all of
a sudden, there's when you're mind it's cleared and the
clutters away in a goofy. Thoughts are away. The answers
(08:52):
are right in front of it, but you have to
recognize them and be open to him. The little junior
college right across the street from Notre day that was
Holy Crossed, and at that time it was like a
hundred kids. And because of that, uh I walked into
that little junior college seeing what I could do to
get there. Uh. I started talking about my past and
(09:14):
little brother at the time, he was in the Navy,
just like I was, and he and I connected to know.
What you need, Rudy is a game plan, and what
you don't need is to live in your past. That's over.
Let's look at what we could do now so we
can move forward. I said, okay, let's do it. Never
asked me again. What I said, all you need is
(09:35):
if you need to work hard, I think you can
do that your work ethic, or you wouldn't have accomplished
what you've accomplished in the Navy. So that's right. So
the other thing is if you don't know something, ask
for help, I said, I always do when I was
in the Navy. Said yep, that's collaboration. So you got
those two down. If you use those two skills, we'll
(09:56):
go on a Notre Dame and I'll endorse you. But
you can't go there unless I endorse you. But what
he didn't I wanted to play football there, so had
to get there much quicker than he wanted me. So
I had to learn patients and learn about failure in
a different way. And every time I got rejected, I
just went back to what more can I do? So
that helped me get to Notre Dame. Because one they
(10:20):
got to know you, they got to know your passion,
your commitment. They also found out you deserve to go
there because of your heart, and you're not gonna fail.
You're not gonna let people down. And they recognize that.
They saw the character and commitment and the courage and
without saying it, and that's what the Navy leadership taught.
(10:42):
It's just there. The energies there, and the winners recognize that,
and Notre Dame recognize that, and that's why they let
me in. And it was as smooth as you could be.
There were certain challenges, yes, but you don't look for
the issues. You handle the issues as they come. So
(11:03):
that's important. People always try to steal your joy or
steal um, steal everything about what you want to do
because they don't see you as a success. They see
you as a failure. Well, if you don't fail, you're
not trying. So failure is not a bad thing. It's
a good thing if you're trying and you learn from
(11:23):
your failures. All the people who called you a loser,
they're the loser because that's the guy you don't want
to be around anyhow, So you want to be around winners.
And that help me get to Notre Dame as well.
There's so many little moments of you know, today, I
still pinch my just left the conversation with Notre Dame
(11:46):
about a half hour ago. There showing the movie to
the kids every year and David and father director wants
to introduce the movie to the student body, and they
showed it in the stadium about ten thou people show up,
maybe more. But I think because the kids bring the
message of Rudy to school with them, the movie makes
(12:10):
a lot of sense. Because I'm not a celebrity or
a star or All American or Hall of Famer, are
not going to go to any NFL team. At that time,
I was just Rudy living my dream for that one moment,
and I had that one moment, and most kids would
love that one moment as well. But they quit along
(12:31):
the way because of information they're given about themselves or
people telling them. I don't know, forget, when I walked
in Hollywood, you don't make movies out of your say,
you don't walk in here and make movies out of
your your journey and you only made a tack or
what there's no story there. That just goes to show
(12:51):
you just gotta keep moving forward and keep talking to
people that want to listen. A lot of people don't
want to listen because they feel they have the answers anyhow, Well,
that's just a flag of town. You move on, bro.
I did, but it took a lot of patience and
a lot of understanding of the message, but more importantly
(13:14):
the patients you needed. And doesn't happen in your time anyhow,
happens in God's time. Once you understand that, it's I'm
a man of faith. Uh. It has nothing with Catholicism
any just a man of faith. And that's important because
when things got hard, you didn't ask for help. You
just prayed that you know, make sure I do the
(13:36):
right thing, the right thoughts. And that always paid off
because your mind was clear. It's always good to clear
your mind from the clutter, because it's easy to product
the clutter man from your friends, from your relatives, from
your even your spouse is even be surprised because they
live in doubt. Why they live in fear. That's how
(13:58):
our society works. Fear. And I was in high school.
It was a fear factor. Middle school. Fear fact. If
you don't do your homework, you're not gonna be anybody.
If you don't understand how to do your homework, you're stupid.
If you ask questions, you're dumb. You know what what
is that you go to church and talk to somebody,
(14:19):
you turn to stone If you turn around in church
years to fall off crazy stupid thoughts and you're very
impressionable at the time. Those are the things you gotta
wipe off and wipe out of your mind. And how
people proceed you through, how they precede themselves. So so
(14:40):
with your with your fear thing, you know, middle school,
high school, very much relate to that because I've I've
been on this journey of like conquering my own fear
that I feel like I grew up with. You know,
So when you had your fear, did it way in
and did it pour over into your Notre Dame time?
Like when you were you know, because you you were
(15:01):
actually a decent football player, led your high school team
and tackles your last two years while you played cornerback,
and then you get the Notre Dame and it's like,
you know, you just wanted to be a part of it,
just you know, want to play one moment. You just
wanted to contribute, so that was the big difference. You know,
that is so important that you understand this because I'm
(15:21):
not going to go there be no All American and
I'm not going to start. But I can contribute. And
all I want to do is contribute to a tradition
into a school that I could be part of. And
they still will not let you do that. They will
resist you. And uh, but that made so so your
time of Notre Dame. Why did they It's entitled athletes,
(15:44):
the All Americans. They recruit the best of the best,
and you're not one of them. You're wasting our time here?
What are you doing out here? And you can't you
have to ignore that. It's like going into Hollywood, what
are you doing? You're not a Sylvester Stallone or you
know you you don't have a good story. Everybody made
a tackle, but you know, you got to find the
(16:06):
right person to give that story too. And that was
the challenge because every everybody feels like they know more
than you, and you're gonna find out just like like
one of you have a great point for radio, and
you have a great understanding, and you ask good questions
and you listen and you come back and ask another
(16:28):
good question. That's a skill. See, that's a skill you
can't teach. That's because you've been preparing and listening and
you've done a lot of work. Like I did a
lot of work about how to movie. How a movie works.
It's through the storytelling of it. It's through the adversity,
the conflict, and through the end results, through the beginning,
(16:51):
how to begin, how it ends and what's the conflict?
And and I think everybody can relate with everyday conflict.
And that's what we brought to Rudy, the everyday conflict,
self esteem, self doubt. Not everybody can relate to a
kid who has talent who makes it in the major league.
I could never make it in the major league, but
(17:12):
I can contribute, you know. You know that was the difference.
There's nineties seven percent of us in America can can
connect to that instead of the one three of people
have the skill in town. Kobe Bryant says its best.
I have all the late Kobe Bryant says it best.
He says, I have all the skill and talent. But
(17:34):
if I had work ethic like Rudy and worked hard
every day, he got better, where would I be? Twenty
years from now. All Rudy wanted was this one moment.
But he looked how hard he had to work for
his one moment, you know, and most people would quit
because they don't see the value of it. But Rudy did,
and uh, I see my value. Yeah. I made mistakes,
(17:57):
but we learned from our mistakes. And I forget people
who put me down, who yelled at me, or people
who made front of I had to forgive too. I
forgive people who And that was a secret. That's a
big secret, by the way, that's a secret sauce forgiving,
forgiving people. Yeah, because man, if you live in if
(18:20):
you live on that other side, life is a miserable
Just be happy that they put you down and put
you in a position to make you fight harder. So
I always thank people for that. Thank God. Not the
name was tough on me. I wouldn't have a movie,
you know, Yeah, for sure. All right, y'all, a quick
break from Walkie Talkies Podcast. I know Rudy has been
(18:41):
dropping bombs of wisdom here in the first twenty minutes,
but let's take a quick break and we'll be right back.
And we're back here on Walkie Talkies Podcast with our
guest today, Rudy Rudiger. Please remember to subscribe to the show,
download the episodes, drop us a comment, drop us a review,
follow us on social media. Is at w TC podcast
And let's bring back in Rudy Rudiger. So Coach r
(19:02):
a Persian. He was actually said to be. Uh, he
was a head. He was a legendary head coach at
the time when you first got there. And he was
said to be the one that was actually encouraging two
walk ons and kind of gave you some valuable time
with him. And there was Mike Ourriard, he was also
a walk on, got an NFL contract with the Chiefs
a couple of years prior to your time. Is that?
(19:23):
Is that notion true about Coach Persian, that he he
was pretty encouraging to you. Uh. I met coach Parcegi
and now you'll like this, all right. I showed up
at six am in the morning where he showed up
for work. And I didn't know this until I approached him.
(19:43):
And I was a little nervous because you know, if
I'm gonna go to Notre Dam, I gotta get that
coach to know me because they don't accept junior walk
ons know I'm gonna be a junior. Say, I gotta
let him know I'm coming. And as he pulled up
in his car, I got really nervous, but at the
same time something inside to me. Let him know what
you're doing. And as he opened the doors, Hey, coach,
(20:06):
Ruddy Rudiger, he said, who, said, Ruddy Rudiger. I was
in the Navy. So you're in the Navy, So was I.
Where'd you serve? And I told him, you know, in
the Mediterraneans And I served. I had my training at
great Like said, so did I. He says, when did
you get out? I said, just about a year ago.
He said, my god, So what are you doing here?
So I want to try it for the football team. Hey,
(20:29):
when you get in you had Holy Cross. That what
you're saying, Yes, sir said, when you get in, you
come and see me. That was it. He Navy connection,
he knew, Yeah, he knew I had the veteran you know,
the heart, commitment, the attitude. Uh So he wasn't looking
(20:49):
for my talent. But when I did show up, you
still had to earn his respect. You just don't show
up because he said to and and you don't make
the team. When you show up, you gotta you know,
get second handings second. I mean it's everything second or
third everything. And you don't even get to eat with
(21:12):
the team after practice because your name is not on
the meal list. So you gotta talk your way into that.
And you don't dressing the football locker you're dressed in
the baseball locker room. They tried everything to discourage you
from being part of every team. Everything was separated like that. Yeah,
that's the way it was. That's because scholarship players get
(21:34):
the locker room. Walk on, you have to earn your
way into that locker room. You just don't show up
and say, I'm no, you have to earn your way.
Are you willing to pay the price? Uh? A walk on?
Does everything? Uh? Hold bags, stand in the cold into
go through the drills. Uh. And they would always say
(21:56):
you're never gonna walk through that. Holy cow. The most
important thing is I think they just made me realize
that some of these guys are lazy. They're just entitled
so I could out work them. Right. It's funny that
you say guys were entitled, you know, back in nineteen seventy. Obviously,
(22:17):
entitlement has always existed, but like I've just wrapped up
my five years of playing, and one of the biggest
things I've always noticed from my own walk on position
was like Jesus, look at how entitled all of these
guys with scholarships are, you know, and how easy it
is for them to be entitled and not even realize
the actual good position that they're in versus what they
(22:39):
could be in. Um So, I think it's interesting, you
know that. I don't know fifty years ago it was
the same mold, but you guys had it even worse
like you were, you know, essentially, I don't know how
many walk Ons there were with you that were in
another locker room with you that didn't dress with you.
Maybe three ended up staying. It was said three guys
(23:01):
ended up So what was like a what was like
a day to day for you there? That was different
aside from the eating the locker room and they're not
dressing that I was so excited just being there because
now I'm I'm about with the best football team in
the land. That's how I looked at it, and how
many guys would love to be here, But other guys
(23:22):
didn't look at it like I looked at it, you know. Uh,
they looked at it like. Uh, They're like they were
supposed to be there. No you're not. You gotta earn
your way here, dude. You know, just because you were
in All American high school doesn't mean you're gonna make
it here. Even some of the walk ons were All
Americans in high school. They think they could show up
and make the team, and they get discouraged real easy
(23:45):
when things aren't going away. It's that entitlement attitude. Um.
And when you don't have that entitlement attitudes there, I
have to earn it. It's a whole new ballgame. Uh.
You look, you appreciate the socks you get. You appreciate
the wash in your jock, you know bad, you know,
all the little things that they take for granted. Oh
(24:07):
my god, if I get in the locker room, how
awesome would that be? How awesome would it be to
have gold pants to walk out to practice instead of
white pants? How great would it be to have a
helmet that fit or should the parts that fit? Uh?
And they paid attention to you as you walked into
the training room, and they take your feet and your
(24:27):
ankles like they take the other scholarship players. You walked in,
they don't. They don't even want you there, that's the
feeling they give you. But yet a fight for every
little yes, so they didn't. They gave you that feeling
almost all the time. They didn't want you there. And
(24:48):
it was it just an aura or was it sometimes
words were being said or not. Energy is very strong,
you know, of like oh, you know, excuse my language,
but oh funk this guy like to us like that.
You were always looked down upon. Yeah, it's more why
it's why you out here, dude? Like you got no chance?
(25:10):
What do you do right? Why you why you're gonna
get killed out here? You know? Now? Was that predominantly
for you because you were five six? There's a lot
of wannabes that show up, you know, and they and
they try to discourage the wannabes. But what Air loved
and what he saw that I jumped up when I
(25:33):
got hit and came right back at it. And he
would say, man, you guys should be more like Rudy,
you know, and and that that came later on though, uh,
And they invited me back when he left Notre Dame.
A new coach came in some of the old coaches
stayed with the new coach, and they said, we gotta
(25:54):
keep this walk on kid, Rudy. So they invited me
back for fallball. And that's when you get your gold
pants and your jersey without the name. The only time
you get name on your jersey if you dressed for
a game. Any time, you're getting the record book. If
you stepped on that field playing, just because you dressed
for a game, you will not get in the record book.
(26:16):
Or you're not being that football roster unless you play.
Is that crazy? So you had uh coach Era, then
you hadne coach Dan Devine. He was an NFL coach, yes,
from the pros Green Bay pack It was with the Packers, right,
So what was you know, if any what was like
(26:37):
a difference that you had in your initial conversations and
relationships with coach Parsigian and then coach Divine? Like what changed?
Was it better? Was it worse? Totally respected me? And
he did he respected He respected me towards the end
and he was kind of like rooting for me, right
happy uh not saying he would verbally say, but hey, Rudy,
(27:00):
how you doing? You know, things like that. He gave
you better energy. Better energy. Divine comes in, doesn't know you.
He's got to come and make a difference right away.
He can't worry about walk ons. He's got to worry
about scholarships. He's got to worry about kids that can
make a difference. So that became another challenge. So you
had to redo what you just went through. But now
(27:22):
you're part of that team because you're invited back for
fall football, and now you get a locker room. Now
you get the gold pants. Now you're part of it.
Now you're treated and you're all get to eat with
the team. Your first year was your junior year, you
didn't get to eat, you didn't get the locker room,
you didn't get the gold pants. But your second year
(27:43):
with coach Divine, which was your senior year, you then
earned those three things. And now you feel better about
yourself and guys start accepting you differently as well. Uh,
because you're part of the team, you're part of that
officially a part of the team. Yeah. So okay, so
what were you doing your first year there? Like, were
(28:04):
you just were you still practicing? Yeah? You like the bag,
you know, whatever they wanted, you know, practice like a
hitting dummy, like running over what like, we need guys
over here, all this bag. You know, we need some
scout guys over here, and you run over and volunteer
for anything, just volunteer a lot of standing around to
(28:25):
standing around, you know at that time when it's called out,
you know, yeah, it's bad because you don't have the
inside to practice and they make your stand out there
and it's freezing cold, raine Fleet all that and you
had to go through all that. Well, you know, other
guys were kind of pampered, you know. Yeah, So second year,
(28:49):
you know, those three things change. You get gold pants,
you get to be in the locker room, you get
to eat the meals with them, you're on the meal list.
You're starting to feel more acclimated, more part of the team.
What changed in practice was it still very similar prex
rol because the online says like, oh, you made the
scout teams. What does that mean? Like your scout team is, Yeah,
the scout team is you get the varsity ready for
(29:11):
the game. That's a big by the way, that's a
big responsibility. Let's we're playing Purdue. You had to be perdue,
you had to learn other place you couldn't learn to
note the name places. You had to know the Purdue place,
so you always learned the opponent's place so they could
respond and react differently. The scout players are uh really,
(29:32):
you know, I respect any scout player because man, it's hard.
It's tough. So I was going through the same stuff
the scholarship some of the scholarship kids were going through.
When they complain, I wouldn't complain and say, man, we're fine.
You know, I earned a respect through not saying anything,
just working harder. And kids would see that. Some kids
(29:54):
would getting inspired by that and they would work hard.
But you don't know a kid that you're gonna inspire. Uh.
That gave up his uniform for me to dress was
Captains of the Notre Dame football Because of the dress
list was cut down by sixty kids. Now, Partision promised
every senior they would dress for their senior day and
(30:16):
that's a hundred ten total kids would dress for the
Now now we only have sixty. I'm not one of
the sixty kids, so it's kind of like I was committed,
but going against the grand You're never gonna dress, Rudy,
why are you out here? But at the end of
the day, they needed, you know. Okay, so if they
(30:36):
have sixty guys that dress, those sixty guys, I'm assuming
we're guys that were all gonna play. So then you
said you had a hundred ten total. That means you
have another sixty fifty to sixty guys on your team
that are either all walk ons or scholarship powers who
just weren't good enough to play, and very little walk
ons now because most of the walk ons don't stay
(30:59):
they they don't stay right, so a lot how do
you even get on the scout team if there's a
ton more scholarship guys who don't play that hard? And
is that that was the case? You you jumped the
line to get here and put myself in there without
you know, you just show up and gets get yourself involved.
(31:20):
Football is kind of like that, uh And coaches like
that because they like that energy spirit getting the team
rallied up. Not that you're not that you were a
raw rock kid. You just put yourself you know, they're
to make it difference, put your body online, showed that
you're a team first guy. I'm sure all of those things.
(31:43):
Some guys did not like you for that. Some of
your teammates. Oh yeah, we showed her in the movie
at one moment. That's a true moment. But it happened there. Always,
I'm always getting in fights on the field with guys
who don't want to work hard. Um over, I'm making
them work. Hey, what are you doing? You know? Um?
(32:05):
And I was on a boxing team at Notre Name
and and I would box and also beat some of
the football players that were also on the boxing team.
So I earned a lot of respect there. I earned
respect a little by little by little. Uh, and it
paid off when came to my last and my senior game.
(32:25):
They one kid gave up, gave up his uniform. Uh.
But the captains went in and talked to the defensive coach,
and they went in and talked to Divine and his staff.
People said they need one kid wants to give up
his uniform, so this route of your kid could dress.
And they allowed that. And uh, the kids, I didn't
(32:47):
know this, And you never know this because you don't
ask guys, Hey, do you like me? Man? Am I
do it all right? You don't have you just do
your job, pack your lunch buck, go to work. That's
what I was taught, you know. And it's like at
the power plant, you go to work, do your job,
and uh what my friend died at the power plant
(33:10):
because he took a shortcut. And I made a commitment
no more shortcuts for me, whether it's football, school or whatever,
because let's you end up in a bad spot. So
that was a lesson I learned from that moment. But
my whole point is, like going to class every day
was important. I wouldn't skip class because I don't want
(33:31):
to miss out, because I couldn't miss out on anything
because you no, academically, I'm not the smartest get in
that classroom, but I could ask a lot of questions
to get through and that all paid off. So everything
pays off by being in love. But you were. You
would say that like something that you know helped you,
but probably during the moment made a bit more difficult
(33:53):
because you were a pest to these guys. You were
a hard worker, you got in the way, you opened
your mouth and yeah, and it bugged him because it
was like, look look at this little guy. Somethence of best,
just Stallan said. I wrote him in a letter in
two asking him, can you help me get a movie idea? Me?
And he writes me back, not my cup of tea
(34:15):
at this time, but good luck. I meet him at
uh well because of doing a press junket. Fast forward,
fast forward to get the movie made. Movies out, Uh,
we're going to promote the movie, and he happens to
be part of the studio that I was part of,
Sony Pictures. They had Cliffhanger, the movie Cliffhanger and make
(34:38):
a long story short, stallans there with's revolted and I
finally meet stallone on even playing field and he respected
that because he heard about me trying to get the
movie made knocking doors down like he did, and they
respect that. I didn't know that, And he says, I
think I like to be remembered as someone who beat
(34:59):
the odds through just plain determination. That's what I was.
That I was not just dogmatic about the whole thing
that I preserved because I think being somewhat of a
pest of life, constantly playing, plaguing and pursuing will bring results.
If nothing else, your voice will be heard because you
(35:20):
have become such a pain in the ass, anything to
get rid of him. It's that kind of thing, you know.
It's like that wonderful movie Rudy. You think of that
five ft six guy and I met him. He's the
only person to be carried off the field that Notre
Dame and took a beating only because he was a
pest in a positive sense. He pestered life to it,
(35:42):
gave in. That's a still long quote from his cigar aficionado.
And we met, uh, like I said in l A
in Vegas, and he respected to see two at that
same journey. All the underdog respect that type of That's
what I'm saying. There are players who respected that as well.
(36:03):
But you don't know who that guy is, right, You
don't go up to your team and say you're gonna
carry me off the film. Man if I play, you
don't do that. Hey, you're gonna get me in the
game if I suit up. No, you're just happy to
get a jersey with no name, and you're suiting up
and you and you're so excited. You run through that tunnel.
(36:25):
Now you want to play, But you can't go up
to your team. You're saying, man, I gotta play. They
put you in the game because the student body chant
your name, not the stadium. And whatever the student body does,
the stadium does so all that's real. You know, that's special. Yeah,
it's it's it's funny that I you know, through the
word pest out there and Sylvester Salone had a direct
(36:48):
quote where he was calling you a positive pest. Super
cool because yeah, I mean, like it's like this persistent
attitude of you know, if you want to get what
you want, you don't really care what's in the way
or who's telling you know. You know, That's what I've
picked up is that you know, people can tell you
and put a limit on you and what they think
of you. But you know, as long as you if
you think more of yourself, which you clearly thought more
(37:10):
of yourself, that like, you know, you would put so
much into this that you would be deserving of at
least one little thing, which is what you were asking for.
And you know, did did quitting ever cross your mind? Right?
Like every day I was like, how do I get
through this? That's why you need mentors in your life
and friends to push it through those tough times. You
(37:31):
can't do this alone, there's no way. That's why you
need good people. One guy or three guys doesn't matter.
You can't go to the people who doubt you or
people who perceive you as you know, what are you
doing here? You stay away from that now, like, for example,
you have a great voice, right, and you're smart, and
(37:53):
it comes across that way and and it's almost like wow, man, guys,
I like where he's going and I like listening. You're engaging.
But how many people have told you that? You know?
I mean, how many people have you got up to
and ask, hey, my engage in And you know, it
just happens, you understand with passion and and the fact
(38:15):
that we struggled to get on the air today because
I don't know anything about Chrome and said, oh rime,
I got Chrome. What's he talking about? Messing with my computer?
And you're sitting there waiting for me. You were a
patient finally figured it out. There's a little thing on
my computer, says Chrome. So I went there and there's
a little box of all these doubts. I hit that
(38:37):
box and my email comes up. I said, all good, Now,
I could do it. But it's just, you know, I
speak for a living though, and I every day it
surprises me. The people you reach through this movie. You
don't know. But you don't ask that either. You just
go out there and you get the best people involved
(39:00):
with putting this message across an ordinary people help you
get to those people. Uh. And a male man a
hotel managing helped me get to the right people. But
you never know who could help you get there. That's
why you don't get the door and anyone. Yeah, it's
crazy because you know, I always I grew up around
and I have great parents and they've they've always instilled
(39:20):
like kind of what you said in the beginning about
it isn't always about what you know, it's about who
you know. And I've always I just loved you know,
even when I talk to people kids who are younger
than me and they're trying to like find their way
into the basketball world, it's like listen, man, Like it's
just about who you know. If you run into the
right person and you have a good first impression, blah
blah blah, you never know what can come out of it.
(39:42):
So I I always I love holding onto stuff like that.
So what what what did you hold onto in those
moments of quitting? Like you said, you had mentors, but
you know you stuck with your faith when I was
in the military Navy that you know, it's not easy
being in the middle ocean seasick. You gotta perform, you
(40:03):
do and man war us going on during Vietnam and
you're a middle of the Jordan crisis and you don't
know whether you're gonna they're gonna sink the ship or
you just do your job. Don't worry about it. All
that crazy stuff. It hasn't happened, has it. No, it hasn't.
We live in an illusion a lot of us. We we
we we we create fear uh and we create all
(40:27):
these uh mental blocks that stop us from doing great things.
That's why you can't allow fear in your mind set
uh or doubt. You're gotta get rid of all that.
Just do what you're supposed to do and the rust
will take care of itself. And that's what I believe in. UM.
I had a kid who played basketball for l S Shoes,
(40:49):
a walk On um Brandon Landry owns like, yeah, walk On,
he's a good kid. You should interview him. We tried
getting him on the podcast, didn't didn't work out, but
I mean I still could be up in the air.
We got in touch with his people and I'm gonna
give you, Brandon, you know what I'm gonna make sure
he gets on your part. I will make sure that
(41:12):
you know what happens when you know they You know,
brand is a great guy. I'm sure he's super He
would love to talk to you, and I think you
would have a lot in common. All right, Walkie talk
his last quick break coming up. But don't go anywhere,
because when we come back, we're gonna really tie in
the end of Rudy's Notre Dame journey. He's going to
touch on the stigma of walk on and if you know,
we're kind of originated from back in his day in
(41:34):
the nineteen seventies, and just so much cool stuff to
kind of wrap up Part one of the episode that's
coming right up here on Walkie Talkies Podcast. Please make
sure you are subscribed to the show. Follow us on
social media is at w t Z podcast. Leave the
show a review any of the three if you only
want to do one, pick one. I'll be fine with
any of the three of those that you choose. I
thank you and we'll be right back. And Walkie Talkies
(41:58):
Podcast on the College Athletes Network is back home stretch
of Part one with our guest Rudy Rudiger. Let's get
right back into it. What would you say, Like, you know,
you you had some back and forth with your teammates
and you were pesty, and there was all these kind
of stuff going on, and they have the stigma around
you of like, what what are you doing here? Why
are you here? Would you say, I don't know how
(42:19):
up to date you are with the current you know,
world of walk ons and how they are treated and
what's gotten better and what's changed and what stayed the same.
But would you say that the stigma around walk on
you know that you dealt with exists still today in
a certain capacity capacity, but it's totally different. They look
(42:41):
at what a preferred walk on. That's a difference, Yes,
preferred walk on, a regular walk on. Uh, they don't
treat you like a preferred walk on. A preferred walk
on is Hey, we like you to come out and
try but when you're just a regular walk on, they
don't ask you to come. Well, you're gonna you gotta
(43:01):
try out, yeah, yeah, yeah, and then you gotta go
through that, you know. Yeah, the rigorous end of just
even being treated like an equal person. Yeah, it's very lonely,
and it's like scary because you're like I know what
I want out of this, but I think that there's
too many weighing factors that are making this feel like
(43:23):
it's entirely impossible to do. And that's when when you're
eighteen or nineteen years old. You know, Fortunately for you,
you were a little bit older and you had a
lot more experience under your belt being in the Navy
and things like that. But if I, if I were
to bring it to my own experience as like a
nineteen twenty year old, like I was petrified of, like, wait,
these people are telling me I can't do this, so
(43:44):
that must mean I can't do it, you know what
I mean? Like you didn't have the perspective to know
anything else that that's the problem. You're high school coach
could have been a goofball, right, Our teachers could have
been bad. I just experienced a young boy Notre Dame
about uh. Right before the summer break um, I was
(44:04):
given a speech at Notre Dame. I noticed his mother
and him were sitting in the restaurant where I was sitting.
He had a Notre Dame boxing hand on him Notre
Dame boxing shirt, but it didn't look like a friend
of conversation. It looked like there's a little stress there,
and so I kind of walked over and I said,
just to come the feelings down because the mother looked
(44:26):
upset and I said, oh wow, they're going through something.
I said, hey, guys, how are you doing? Oh fine,
I said tom I don't know his name was. Tommy
said you box for Notre Dame. Said yeah. The mother
said not anymore. Oh. I said, what what happened? He
just failed out of Notre day, I said, he did.
Can I sit down here? I said, I went to
(44:50):
the same type of failing. What's your name? Son, says?
Tommy said Tommy, Uh, you want to go back to
Notre Dame? Said yes, I do. I said, okay, well
you mind, if I sit down, I'll give you a
game plan because that was given to me at holy
Cross Junior College when I walked in. Was a game plan.
I never had a game plans. I saw the gentleman
(45:11):
who gave me a game plan, and I said, I
have a little experience with that, ma'am. I went to
holy Cross and transfer another name, but it wasn't easy
for me. Oh my god, is you're not rudy? Are you?
Because they know who you are now Holy Cross Transfer
and I said, yes, I am. I said, oh my god,
how can you help Tommy? I said, it's gonna be
(45:32):
up to Tommy number one, not up to you or me.
It's gonna be totally up to Tommy. I said, Tommy,
you want to go back and not Day said yeah,
all right. Here. First step you do is, uh, you
can go back to your council or go back to
the people who failed you at the emissions, and uh,
You're not gonna ask him what you did wrong. You
already know what you did wrong. You didn't do your work,
(45:55):
or you failed, and there's a reason why you failed.
What was the reason? He said? I was locked in
my room for eight king day because of COVID I
have and the mother said he has eight he went
he went crazy. I said, I understand that. So that's
that's all right. We're gonna overcome that. I said, But
you're gonna go back and find out what you need
to do now to get back in. That's number one.
(46:16):
Then you're gonna come back to my speech, come back
here in my speech. Number two. Where do you live?
A says Long Island, New York. I said, good, I
can help you. I have a friend that's athletic director.
You can go back this summer and you're gonna help
this fall. It was because he was let going in
the middle of the semester. So you're gonna go back
(46:36):
and you're gonna intern from my buddy that's an athletic
director there while you're taking the course that you're just
supposed to take. And you're gonna do all that because
you need a job, because you're gonna learn how to
manage your time. He said, will you do that? I said, yes,
all right, then you come to my speech and we'll
go from there. And he just got back readmitted to
(46:57):
Notre Dame uh for this semester and you know the reason,
and here's why because so uh let me let me
just um this is important because he was ready to
give up. And just like many times, I wanted to
(47:17):
give up, but I didn't give up because someone comes
and saved me, you know, and I saw a boy
he needs it. Let me read you this real quick, say, hey, Rudy,
how are you? We are at Notre Dame now. I
can't believe the day is finally here. Although Tommy was
home for seven months when it was so quick, but
it's so good to be back. You always seem to
(47:40):
come into our lives the most opportune times, after not
texting for weeks. You choose. You chose the day we
were leaving for Notre Dame to send these pictures. I
always feel like it's a side. I meant to text
you two days ago, but my luggage was lost and
I had no clothes or toiletries when we arrived in Chicago,
(48:02):
so I had to run the target. Blah blah blah.
Needless to say, my leggage has been found and things
are looking brighter. Tommy is at brunch now for re
admitted students. Isn't that great? I am thankful Notre Dame
has given him another chance. I praise succeed because I
know he belongs there here. He's a perfect s a
(48:24):
t perfect a student in high school, captain of his
hockey team. Blah blah blah. And just that one little moment,
I think he had a D eight. He couldn't handle that,
and no one comes to his rescue to help him.
You understand where I had friends at Notre Dame. Whether
he was a janitor, whether he was a student, whether
(48:45):
he was a tutor, all helped me get through those
moments because we all have him. He didn't have that,
and I said, you need you, you you and I
need to connect. And that's how it all happened. I
didn't pestor I'm just doing. We kept in touch. He
worked for my friend as an intern. I got great
grades from that, and it did well to get back
(49:08):
into Notre Dame. But how many times how many times
have you seen as a walk on basketball that someone
and kept you going? Not many, not a lot, a lot,
but that one person who had right It gets you
through your moments of doubt, gets you through your mom
(49:30):
Maybe I am contributing. See the contribution attitude was I
came into my mindset very important for me. So you
ultimately have your one shining moment that you dreamed of
and you said you didn't want to be an All American.
You kind of just wanted to step on the field
for Notre Dame football, even if it was literally for
just one second, and you got the chance to do it.
We all know the you know, memorable moment. Did you
(49:53):
ever think that when you got the chance to dress
for that Georgia Tech game that you would actually get
in the game. Like, did you think during that time,
like I'm gonna play? Oh yeah, absolutely, because I went
to practice every day like I was supposed to play.
I practiced like an All American. Something funny about that
that I think it when I was I was listening
(50:14):
to some of your YouTube interviews and I was I
was reading stuff, and they said that the coach I
was just going to throw you in on offense, and
you said no, and then you end up going in
on the kickoff and then you played defensive end hot
like you clearly didn't really have a set position, right,
So you know, those guys put me in the game.
Go for me. Just go Rudy. I don't know where
(50:36):
to go it, just just go go a defensive vent.
So I went in, uh, and you know the rest
is history. One of the most memorable iconic plays with
you sacking the quarterback, you know, hundred hundred sixty five
pounds five six waterback in high school. You're two hundred
pounds all right? Said they lie about it. Yeah, you
were stocking there, notre dame. I lifted weights, got you know,
(50:59):
you had to absorb the shock in high school with
six one, right, So they didn't they didn't upgrades your
your college stats. I was when I was reading them, like,
there's no way he stayed. There's no way. So a
couple of quick things just before we wrap up part one. Here,
do you remember the feeling when it happened, when when
you cross the line you stack sacked the quarterback like
(51:20):
you were like, you can relive that over and all
you relive. I'm glad I didn't quit. That was right? Yeah,
that that you know, twenty seven seconds was all the
glory you need to play twenty seven seconds And man,
I'm glad I didn't quit. You know, you look at
all the little angels that showed up in your life
that kept you going because your mindset was positive. That's
(51:43):
when they show up in That's when you see it.
A lot of times we don't recognize those angels. I
call them angels because our mindsets thinking negative uh at
a time. Not the truth? Uh? Is the truth? What
are you doing? What are you doing about it? Are
you contributing? Are you moving and forward? You have that belief, um,
(52:08):
you know all that it happens when it's supposed to happen. Um,
Just like the movie. If I would have rushed that movie,
I had patience. I said, there's no, there's I can't.
I don't have to do this movie now it's one
it's supposed to when I understand the movie and the message.
It took time, just like my speaking took years for
(52:29):
me to develop my speaking skill. Your your m O though,
is patients. Like your your motto is patients sacrifice, self
awareness and and and ultimately developing, you know, the self
esteem to go through those that that journey, those two
years and then even the years prior where you weren't
playing football and you were doing you know, hard labor
(52:51):
and you were in the Navy, like you didn't really
have at any point from when you graduated high school
up until that moment at the end of Notre Dame
a sweet ride, you know what I mean? Like it
it feels like from just a little that I know,
like you had to really instill in yourself, like I'm
not going to get what i want unless I'm patient
and then I can. You know, So, is that is
(53:14):
that what you would you say? That that you know
the patients and those is there any other pillars that
you may be held onto alongside that? In yourself? Was
the key? Believe in yourself? In yourself and whatever. It
didn't matter what other people said about you. I don't
care what you say. It doesn't matter. It's what I
believe in that matters. And I'm not I'm not gonna
(53:39):
go what you say about me because you're criticized. I mean,
you must be not liking yourself. So what So what
do you say about people, especially like since you've you're
now on the other side of it, where you're an
adult and you have all this wisdom, what do you
say two people or about people who are in those
positions of power and they put a limit on a kid,
(54:02):
like they tell a kid just because they've seen a
an amount of them, like yeah, you're only this good,
or you can only be that good, or you're only
going to be able to do this, and then you
see you know the examples I like to use, or
like Duncan Robinson in the NBA, you went from a
D three National championship to signing the biggest undrafted NBA contracts,
So what do you say to those I did address
(54:23):
the coach I saw treat kids pretty bad if they
didn't do the right So one day it was at
the right time, I saying, coach How important is it
for you to win at this age with these kids?
Very important? Really, you think they're gonna remember that game
ten years from though? Are they going to remember you
(54:45):
how you treated him? Think about that. That's that's your legacy, dude.
I mean that kid's gonna think about how you treated
him or how you impacted their lives, not whether they
won or lost that game. You know, stop it. I said,
build these kids come turns and who they are because
(55:06):
just kids. Why do they put them on Why do
they put especially in your era, why are they why
do they even want kids? Kids? Because they're losers. So
the kids are losers. By treating it as a loser,
he's living through the kid instead of developing the kid
(55:27):
and developing them for the future to be better. So
he's taking his own ship out on the kid. And
and so you think that's why sometimes or at least
to a certain degree, that there's that need to have
welcome then of a person confuse. You don't let the
position of a person confusion. So he's treating me like shit.
(55:50):
That means he's living through whatever he's living through, he
doesn't have confidence in himself, and he's taking it out
on you taking it out and you're the great ones.
The great ones always remind you you gotta work harder
and you can get better. Uh, those are the great coaches.
And I'm not gonna name him, but I know, yeah,
(56:10):
we all we all know the great ones, and I
know I treated their teammates right. It's sad because there's
a lot of kids who have big dreams too, you know,
even if they're not, even if they're they're in a
situation like yourself where it's like, I just want a moment.
I don't care about being an All American or playing
in the NFL anything. They just want a moment, you know,
(56:31):
like I always think about for me, like and I
can laugh about it now, but like I never hit
a Division one three pointer. Never did. I only scored
two points in my Division one career, had like maybe
two assists, and I never hit a three. And I
and the reason that sticks out to me because I
grew up a three point shooter, like my m O was.
I'm a shooter. So I always hope. I think it's
funny because it's like, you know, you can being put
(56:53):
in these situations where like if you're not around the
right people, you never know, you know, you can really
be you know, sunken down. And sometimes it's completely out
of the players control. I'm not even really talking about
myself anymore. Just in general, there's players that can put
in these situations where they think it's one thing and
then it becomes another and now and you're still a
walk on. You're paying your own tuition, you're in debt,
(57:16):
you're you know, you're grinding it out with the rest
of these guys. And a lot of times it's just
like you said, like you want to quit all the time,
and it always comes back to like for what you know,
because what are what are the odds? What go back
and tell us, like, what what were the odds that
what happened for you happened? They were they're probably you
know what would you say half? I mean, yeah, one
(57:37):
out of a million. Yeah, it's I look at as
I go through airports today and I do look at
all the people. I said, Oh my god, they made
my movie, you know, And I'm only one out of
millions of people. And uh, maybe in one hand you
can count the movies they made out of individuals, you know, Uh,
(57:59):
maybe two hands. I don't know, but I can't you know.
But Rudy stands out there. Hey, look no, we're gonna
go to Park two. Absolutely because you're awesome and I love, uh,
this conversation. Let's appreciate this, so let's do want to
clack my napper, I can get my work out and
I can look good for you. Alright, my god, I
(58:19):
really appreciate this. I'm looking for you, man, alright, thank you,
appreciate it. Part two coming up. Brothers and Sisters. Walkie
Talkies is a production of I Heart Radio and the
College Athletes Network. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio,
visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
(58:40):
you get your podcasts.
Host
Noah Buono
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!