Rock ‧ ne, Knute /ˈrɒkni $ ˈrɑːk-, nuːt/ BrE AmE
(1888–1931) a US football ↑ coach (=someone who trains a team) at the University of ↑ Notre Dame in Indiana, who developed new methods of playing that made his team extremely successful. According to a well-known story, when one of his players was ill, Rockne told his team to win the game they were going to play for ‘the Gipper’. Ronald ↑ Reagan appeared as an actor in a film about Rockne, and later, when he became US president, he often used the phrase ‘do it for the Gipper’.