The Gipper Pandemic

              George Gipp may have died 100 years ahead of his time.

              The official cause of the legendary Notre Dame football star’s death was listed as streptococcic throat disease, or strep throat. “Pneumonia also helped weaken the athlete,” the Chicago Tribune reported in its coverage of Gipp’s death on December 14, 1920.

“Specialists called from Chicago succeeded in ridding his system of pneumonia... but Gipp did not have the stamina left to ward off the poison resulting from the throat infection.”

Consider the time frame: The global Influenza Epidemic of 1918 killed an estimated 50 million worldwide and more than 675,000 Americans. Cities closed schools. Public gatherings were banned. Statewide orders made masks mandatory. Businesses were shut down across the country. Fines were imposed on those who failed to wear a mask in public, which prompted protests.

Sound familiar?

Gipp was an athletic beast despite being a heavy smoker, a habit that caused Knute Rockne to write, “My fear for Gipp was that Nature had made him such a fine athlete that, over-gifted, he would not appreciate nor respect his talents.”

When Nature tackled Gipp with a deadly virus on November 20, 1920, the country was nearing the end of a second wave that had struck down hundreds of thousands of victims who went out coughing, racked by pain and high fever, and turning blue because they couldn’t get enough oxygen.

“During the final hours of his fight for life, Gipp was rational and was said to show remarkable grit as he gradually grew weaker...” the Chicago Tribune reported.

George Gipp was only 24 when he died. Medical experts say one marked difference between COVID-19 today that threatens older adults with compromised immune systems and the 1918 Pandemic... the most affected groups 100 years ago were otherwise healthy adults between the ages of 20 to 40.

Gipp’s mortal life was cut way too short. His legend remains immortal. But Gipp’s death, all things considering today, may be taking on a whole new immortality.

“Gipp was Nature’s pet and, as with many of her pets, Nature also punished him.”
— Knute Rockne