The year was 1920. George Gipp of the University of Notre Dame football team was giving a punting camp shortly before Thanksgiving with another successful season in the books. The Fighting Irish had, for the second year running, gone 9-0, running their unbeaten streak to twenty games, including a draw away to Nebraska at the end of Gipp's sophomore year of 1918. For this success, Gipp was days away from being named All-America by Walter Camp and countless other sources, making him the second consensus First-Teamer in program history after Gus Dorais.
But not long after these honours were dispensed to him, Gipp caught strep throat and pneumonia. Adding insult to injury, it was a time before antibiotics, which would have enabled him to live a full life. As it was, he died on 14 December at Notre Dame. It's said that, shortly before he kicked the bucket, he told his coach, the legendary Knute Rockne: "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."
Eight years later, on 10 November 1928, the Irish were going through a rebuilding year (by their standards). Rockne's men were 4-2, having already lost to Wisconsin and Georgia Tech on the season, heading into a fixture against Army at Yankee Stadium. The Cadets, by contrast, were unbeaten, and looking for their first national title since 1914. At halftime, Notre Dame were down 6-0 when Rockne remembered Gipp's dying exhortation. He invoked it, and the Irish scored two touchdowns in the second half. Despite missing both PATs, they held on to spoil West Point's season, 12-6.
Why do I bring up these events, you ask? Well, 95 years to the month after Notre Dame 12-6 Army--and thousands of miles away in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico--the 2023 Upper Midwest Connection of the Year received his own "win just one for the Gipper" motivation in the form of a text from his dying Minnesota Gophers teammate Jon Trasamar. To be fair, "Trasy" was still alive--albeit barely--when Erik van Rooyen received and executed his marching-orders, whereas Gipp had long passed on when Rockne rallied his troops in the Bronx. But the song remained the same, as Led Zeppelin would've put it.
Nor are the parallels merely related to a dying or dead person who still inspired. As with the Irish against Army, EVR found himself in a bit of a pickle early on in the World Wide Technologies Championship. But the exhortation kicked in in both cases, and the result was victory in each.
Finally, Trasamar's last full day on Earth--10 November 2023, three days after van Rooyen had seen him alive for the last time--was the 95th anniversary of the "win just one for the Gipper" game. I wonder if Allie Traen (Jon's widow) is aware of the connection to this day. In any case, I saw Jon's funeral livestreamed on the Blue Earth, Minnesota funeral home's website, and van Rooyen read the second reading.
In conclusion, was Erik van Rooyen the most consistent Umcee of 2023? No, that would probably be Epson Tour prospect Kate Smith, who missed only three cuts all year. Van Rooyen even missed seven in a row and nine of eleven, and was playing for his job in the FedEx Cup Fall! But his playing and winning in Mexico through adversity for Jon Trasamar, as the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team had done 95 years earlier for George Gipp, put him over the top enough to earn him the honour of Upper Midwest Connection of the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty-Three.
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| Behold, your 2023 Upper Midwest Connection of the Year! |
2023 Upper Midwest Connection of the Year: Erik van Rooyen, Cape Town, South Africa/University of Minnesota '13
Starting OWGR: #122
Year-end OWGR: #87
Final FedEx Cup Eligibility: #65
Wins: 1 (World Wide Technologies Championship)
Top 10s: 4 on PGA Tour, 1 on DP World Tour
Top 25s: 6 on PGA Tour, 2 on DP World Tour
Majors: None
Cuts made: 12/25 plus 3/3 on DP World Tour
Upper Midwest Connection of the Week titles: 6 (including retroactive)
With the 2023 Top Ten in the books, I can now call it a season for the blog. But I won't be gone for long, as in a few days, I'll be announcing my third-round picks for the FA Cup. Look for more features to emerge as well on the Devilish Rake.
One more thing: For the first time in my memory two Umcees are in the Sentry, formerly the Tournament of Champions. As a result of all top-50 FedEx Cup finishers making the event, in addition to all tournament winners in the soon-to-be-finished calendar year, EVR will be joined by Tom Hoge. Looks like the count of Upper Midwest Connection of the Week titles will start anew by mid-January.
Have a happy New Year of 2024.
Edward the Scop
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