The following real-life inspirational/motivational instructors/mentors have been portrayed in popular films:
Knute Kenneth Rockne was an American football player and coach at the University of Notre Dame. Leading Notre Dame for 13 seasons, Rockne accumulated over 100 wins and three national championships.
Knute Rockne, All American is a 1940 American biographical film that tells the story of Knute Rockne, Notre Dame's legendary football coach. It stars Pat O'Brien as Rockne and Ronald Reagan as player George Gipp, as well as Gale Page, Donald Crisp, Albert Bassermann, Owen Davis Jr., Nick Lukats, Kane Richmond, William Marshall and William Byrne. The film also includes cameos by football coaches "Pop" Warner, Amos Alonzo Stagg, William H. Spaulding and Howard Jones, playing themselves.
George Gipp, nicknamed "the Gipper", was an American college football player at the University of Notre Dame under head coach Knute Rockne. Gipp was selected as Notre Dame's first Walter Camp All-American, and played several positions, particularly halfback, quarterback, and punter.
Notre Dame Stadium is an outdoor football stadium in Notre Dame, Indiana, the home field of the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team.
William Joseph Patrick O'Brien was an American film actor with more than 100 screen credits. Of Irish descent, he often played Irish and Irish-American characters and was referred to as "Hollywood's Irishman in Residence" in the press. One of the best-known screen actors of the 1930s and 1940s, he played priests, cops, military figures, pilots, and reporters. He is especially well-remembered for his roles in Knute Rockne, All American (1940), Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), and Some Like It Hot (1959). He was frequently paired onscreen with Hollywood star James Cagney. O'Brien also appeared on stage and television.
Richard Albert Vermeil is an American former football coach who served as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons. He was the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles for seven seasons, the St. Louis Rams for three, and the Kansas City Chiefs for five. Prior to the NFL, he was the head football coach at Hillsdale High School from 1960 to 1962, Napa Junior College in 1964, and UCLA from 1974 to 1975. With UCLA, Vermeil led the team to victory in the 1976 Rose Bowl. Vermeil's NFL tenure would see him improve the fortunes of teams that had a losing record before he arrived and bring them all to the playoffs by his third season, which included a Super Bowl title with the Rams.
Marilyn Gambrell is a parole-officer-turned-teacher who started the program No More Victims at the M.B. Smiley High School in Houston, Texas. The program was developed to assist children with incarcerated parents, hoping to prevent them from following in their parents' footsteps. Since the program's start in 1993, hundreds of children have graduated under her tenure.
George E. Keogan was an American football, basketball, and baseball coach, most known for coaching basketball at the University of Notre Dame from 1923 to 1943. Keogan never had a losing season in his 20 years at Notre Dame.
Marva Delores Collins was an American educator. Collins is best known for creating Westside Preparatory School, a widely acclaimed private elementary school in the impoverished Garfield Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, which opened in 1975.
Allentown Central Catholic High School (ACCHS), often referred to as Central Catholic or Central, is a private, parochial school located at 301 N. 4th Street in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The school is managed by the Diocese of Allentown, and predominantly serves students from the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania.
Harry Augustus Stuhldreher was an American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He played quarterback at University of Notre Dame from 1922 to 1924, where he was a three-time All-American and member of the legendary "Four Horsemen" backfield. After graduating from Notre Dame, Stuhldreher played professional football briefly with the Brooklyn Horsemen/Lions in 1926. He served as the head football coach at Villanova College—now known as Villanova University—from 1925 to 1935 and at the University of Wisconsin–Madison from 1936 to 1948, compiling a career college football record of 110–87–15. Stuhldreher was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a player in 1958.
On March 31, 1931, a Fokker F-10 belonging to Transcontinental and Western Air crashed near Bazaar, Kansas after taking off from Kansas City Municipal Airport, Kansas City, Missouri.
Homer Woodson "Bill" Hargiss was an American athlete and coach. He played American football and basketball and also competed in track and field events. Additionally, Hargis coached athletics at several colleges in the states of Kansas and Oregon. As an American football coach during the sport's early years, Hargis was an innovator. He was among few coaches in using the forward pass and the huddle, now staple features of the game.
Heartley William "Hunk" Anderson was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at the Saint Louis University (1928–1929), University of Notre Dame (1931–1933), and North Carolina State University (1934–1936), compiling a career college football record of 34–34–4. From 1942 to 1945, Anderson was the head coach for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL), tallying a mark of 24–12 and winning the 1943 NFL Championship.
Marchmont H. "Marchy" Schwartz was an American college football player and coach. He played football at the University of Notre Dame from 1929 to 1931, and was a two-time All-American at halfback. Schwartz served as the head football coach at Creighton University from 1935 to 1939 and at Stanford University from 1942 to 1950, compiling a career college football coaching record of 47–50–6; Stanford, like may other universities, suspended football during World War II. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a player in 1974.
Adam Walsh was an American football player and coach. He played college football as a center at the University of Notre Dame where he was an All-American and captain of the 1924 team under Knute Rockne. Walsh then served as the head football coach at Santa Clara University from 1925 to 1928 and at Bowdoin College from 1935 to 1942 and again from 1947 to 1958, compiling a career college football record of 80–85–11. He also coached the Cleveland / Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL) in 1945 and 1946, tallying a mark of 15–5–1. Walsh was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a player in 1968.
Rudolph H. Lavik was an American football, basketball, baseball, and track and field coach, college athletics administrator, and educator. He served as the head football coach at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota from 1920 to 1921, at Arizona State Teacher's College of Flagstaff—now known as Northern Arizona University—from 1927 to 1932, and at Arizona State Teachers College at Tempe—now known as Arizona State University—from 1933 to 1937, compiling a career college football head coaching record of 43–43–9. Lavik was also the head basketball coach at Arizona State Flagstaff (1927–1931), Colorado Agricultural College—now known as Colorado State University (1925–1927), and Arizona State Tempe, tallying a career college basketball head coaching mark of 152–156. In addition, he served as the athletic director at Northern Arizona from 1927 to 1933 and Arizona State from 1933 to 1949. He remained a full-time member of Arizona State's faculty until 1962.
James Murphy Brady, a grandson of Idaho governor James H. Brady, was an American football player and broadcasting entrepreneur.
Dorothy Tree was an American actress, voice teacher and writer. She appeared in a wide range of character roles in at least 49 films between 1927 and 1951.
Thomas Cyril "Cy" Kasper was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Alfred University in Alfred, New York from 1923 to 1924, Columbus College in Chamberlain, South Dakota from 1925 to 1927, and South Dakota State University from 1928 to 1933.