What Will Be Your Legacy?

Have you ever thought about what your legacy will be? After all the kind words said at your funeral, what will it be weeks, months, even years later that people say about you? How will history remember you? Before you discount those questions, let me just say, every one of us will leave a legacy, maybe not on a national or worldwide scale, but to those who know us, we will leave some sort of legacy.

The game of college football today looks nothing like it did back in 1869 when the College of New Jersey (now Princeton) Tigers and Rutgers Queensmen played the first intercollegiate game. You do not need to be a fan of college football to know the name Knute Rockne. The Rock was a legendary football coach at Notre Dame from 1918-1930. He is considered one of the greatest college football coaches of all-time. His Fighting Irish teams won 88% of their games, and Rockne’s winning percentage is second all time, behind only Larry Kehres who coached 27 years at Mount Union (Ohio).

In 1928, Notre Dame had one of Rockne’s worst teams, finishing the season 5-4. On November 10, after a scoreless first half against an undefeated Army team, Rockne, in trying to salvage the season, made his famous “Win one for the Gipper” halftime speech. Notre Dame then rallied to upset Army that day, 12-6.

One of his star players was George Gipp, nicknamed “The Gipper.” Sadly, on December 14, 1920, three weeks after his last intercollegiate football game (ND was 9-0 that season), “The Gipper” died of complications from strep throat and pneumonia. As Gipp lay dying in the hospital, Coach Rockne visited his friend and according to Rockne, the young man said this – “I’ve got to go, Rock. It’s all right. I’m not afraid. Some time, Rock, when the team is up against it, when things are wrong and the breaks are beating the boys, ask them to go in there with all they’ve got and win just one for the Gipper. I don’t know where I’ll be then, Rock. But I’ll know about it, and I’ll be happy.” Historians doubt Rockne’s version of Gipp’s last words are true, but it makes for a great story.

Tragically, the ever-popular Knute Rockne died in a plane crash on March 31, 1931. Rockne’s untimely death sparked a national outcry. Newspapers all across the country carried the story. His funeral was broadcast live on network radio; possibly birthing our obsession with celebrity funerals. Because of Rockne’s popularity and the outrage over his death, the crash was investigated with a thoroughness that would become the criterion by which all future aviation accidents would be investigated, triggering sweeping changes to airline safety, something anyone who flies today greatly appreciates.     

How we live life makes a difference in our lifetime and in the lifetimes of those after us. Psalm 145:4 says this – “One generation commends your works to another; they tell of your mighty acts.” And in Proverbs 3:35 we find – “The wise will inherit honor, but fools get disgrace.”

While it is true that probably your death or my death will not be broadcast live or because of our death sweeping changes will be made that impact future generations, it is true that each one of you reading this post has the opportunity to touch, impact, and change the lives of those you come in contact with. And that is of no less significance than the legacy left behind by the rich and famous.

So, what will be your legacy? It is never too late to begin to create one that enriches those you love and those who come after you. 

I took this picture of Rockne’s statue outside Notre Dame’s football stadium when visiting their campus in 2012.

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