This Day In Sports History is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Your Favorite Sport's Yesteryear.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In 1997, Nebraska beat Missouri on an intentionally kicked ball and diving catch as time ran out to force overtime.

In 1975, Rudy Reutiger played in a game for Notre Dame, sacked the quarterback and inspired the movie that came out in 1993.

In 2003, St. John's (Minn.) football coach John Gagliardi won his 409th college football game, passing Eddie Robinson as the all-time winningest coach in NCAA History.

In 1980, Illinois quarterback Dave Wilson had a career day against Ohio State. Wilson was playing under a court injunction allowing him to play while his case about his eligibility played out in the judicial system.

And in 1970, New Orleans Saint kicker Tom Dempsey hit a 63-yard field goal.

THIS DAY IN SPORTS BACKGROUND

Relive the greatest moments in sports every day of the year. From the triumphs to the tragedies, the first to do it to the last time it happened, the unbelievable to the strange, This Day in Sports History is a 365-day journey remembering those significant events that made a lasting impact.

Takeaways:

• The Flea Kicker game in 1997 showcased Nebraska's miraculous last-second touchdown against Missouri.
• Rudy Rudiger's inspiring story at Notre Dame highlights the impact of determination and perseverance.
• John Gaillardi became the all-time winningest college football coach with 489 total wins.
• Tom Dempsey set a monumental NFL record with a 63-yard field goal in 1970.
• Illinois quarterback Dave Wilson made headlines with his 621-yard passing performance against Ohio State.
• The NFL introduced rules affecting kicking after Dempsey's record-setting shoe sparked controversy.

Mentioned in this episode:

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Hey, and welcome to this day in sports history.

Today's episode is going to be a bit football heavy, but there's just too much cool stuff to talk about.

So let's get into it.

The Nebraska Cornhuskers came into this game undefeated and the top ranked team in the country.

Mizzou was 63 and just two weeks prior had knocked off number 12 Oklahoma State in double overtime.

And they were riding a wave of confidence after three straight wins.

It stayed that way into the final minute.

Nebraska had the ball and was desperate to find a way to the end zone with seven seconds left.

And the Huskers with the football at the Tiger 11 yard line.

They legitimately had one shot left.

What happened next was nothing short of a miracle.

But the call from that day for abc, here's Brent Musburger.

Third down cross to the middle.

Juggle diamond.

Touchdown Nebraska.

Davidson on the deflection.

Nebraska's a point away from tying the game.

The deflection is caught.

The fans have broken into the end zone.

They expected the game to be over, but a touchdown was signaled for in the end zone.

They'll clear the field and kick for the tie.

We could be headed to overtime.

Quarterback Scott Frost lasered a pass to Chevin Wiggins.

It hit him in the chest, but he didn't grab it.

As the ball was falling to the ground and Wiggins was falling backward, he kicked the ball into the air.

Matt Davison came from out of nowhere, dove and caught the ball before it hit the ground.

Now kicking the ball intentionally like that would be illegal.

Incomplete pass.

Game over, Missouri wins.

But an unintentional kick, a ricochet, say, is not illegal.

The officials could not determine intent and it was ruled a touchdown.

Years later, Wiggins admitted he definitely kicked it intentionally into the air.

After the pat, the game was tied and it went to overtime.

The close win actually cost the Huskers two spots in the rankings, but they were able to win out.

They beat Tennessee in the Orange bowl and they ended up the year number one in the coaches bowl.

So this is the last year before the BCS championship game.

It was the third game in the 90s that the national title had been split.

Now if Nebraska had lost this game and Michigan was number one in both polls at the end of the year, the BCS championship may have been delayed a few more years.

Dan Devine was in his first year as the head coach of the Irish and his team was 6 and 2 at this point.

Rudy Rudiger was one of 20 walk ons with the Irish in the 75 season.

At 5ft 6 inches tall and about 165 pounds, he wasn't somebody who met the typical physical standards of a Notre Dame recruit.

His main role as a walk on defensive end was to be on the scout team during the week and give the offense a look at what the upcoming opponent may run against them.

Rudy impressed a lot of his teammates in practice with his effort every day, but he wasn't a guy who got a spot on the game day roster.

The game against Georgia Tech was the final home game for the Irish in 75 and so it's a time to say thanks and farewell to the seniors on the team.

Reserve defensive back Pat Sarb went to coach Devine in the week leading up to the Tech game and he requested that Rudy take his spot.

Devine agreed but gave no guarantees that he would actually be given a shot to play Notre Dame.

Running back Jerome Heavens was a big reason that Rudy got a shot to play in this one.

Heavens had 152 yards rushing and scored twice.

In addition, if the Irish had not stopped Georgia Tech's powerful offense, holding them to 143 yards rushing and three points, Rudy would have been nothing more than a spectator for this one.

The Irish built up a 243 lead in the fourth and they were cruising to their seventh win of the year.

The Yellowjackets had the football with time running down and what happened next inspired the movie.

Here's former Notre Dame defensive tackle Nick Fedorenko retelling his story for Notre Dame's production of 125 years of Notre Dame football.

One of our defensive ends I think was like the second to last player or ran off the field and his name was Tony Zappola and I looked at, I go where's he going?

I was playing defensive tackle on the left side.

Well anyway, next Thing I know this guy comes running out, you know, Rudy, and he's jumping up and down, acting like a wild man, going, where should I go?

Where should I go?

I said, well, here, Rudy play defensive end in the end and what I'll do, I'll grab the guard and tackle and I'll push him this way and I'll spin and if the quarterback comes our way, hit him.

Well, it just so happened the ball gets hiked, I come across, I grab the guard in the tackle and push them together and spin on the other side and I kind of fallen down and the quarterback, here comes the quarterback, I grab his leg and of course Rudy hits him and they make a movie about it.

People involved in the game say that most of the movie is true to life, but one thing that did get dramatized was the scene where Notre Dame players walk into Coach Devine's office and say, let Rudy wear my jersey.

Here's former Notre Dame fullback Steve Orsini debunking that story.

The one thing that's not true is I worked so hard to get my jersey.

That scene where all the players were giving their jerseys back to Coach Devine and said, here, let Rudy wear my jersey.

That wasn't going to happen.

I worked too hard to get that varsity jersey and trot out in that field.

One guy who definitely deserves a movie to be made about his life is John Gaillardi.

Gilardi was a college football coach for 64 years, the last 60 of those at Division 3's St.

John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota.

Well, on this day, Gailardi's Johnnies were playing a home conference game against Bethel College.

This was a close game throughout and when St.

The win on this day was Gilardi's 409th passing Grambling's Eddie Robinson as the all time winningest College football coach.

St.

John's would go on to win out, finishing the season at 17, 0 and winning the Division 3 championship.

He is still the all time winningest coach in college football history with 489 total wins.

And his 64 years on the sidelines is unequaled.

In fact, Wilson was playing under a court injunction allowing him to play.

While his case about his eligibility played out in the judicial system, the Big Ten argued that Wilson didn't have enough academic credits to compete as a senior.

Wilson, who had started out at Cal and then transferred to Illinois after two years, maintained he was only a junior with two years of eligibility left.

A 43 decision by the Illinois Supreme Court in October allowed Wilson to keep on playing for the Illini as the snail pace of the justice system slowly progressed.

On this day, the seventh ranked Buckeyes raced out to a 357 lead.

And that's when Wilson went to work.

He completed 43 of his 69 pass attempts for 621 yards and six touchdowns to put the Illini back in the ball game.

The Buckeyes survived the assault.

They added two more touchdowns of their own to win 49 42.

His record stood for eight years before being topped.

The current record of 734 yards passing is held by Texas Tech's Patrick Mahomes and Washington State's Connor Halliday.

Dempsey was born with no toes on his right foot or fingers on his right hand.

He wore a specially made squared shoe on his right foot.

And this was a game between the New Orleans Saints and Detroit Lions at Tulane Stadium.

The Saints didn't have many options.

Saints quarterback Billy Kilmer found receiver Al Dodd for a first down just shy of midfield at the 45.

Only two seconds remained on the clock.

So throw a Hail Mary or let Dempsey take a shot.

Neither seemed to be a good option, but out trotted Dempsey.

So a few things to one, the goal posts were at the front of the end zone at this point.

Second, Dempsey was a traditional straight on kicker, soccer style guys were just coming into fashion.

And third, the record at this point was 56 yards.

His holder set up at the 37 yard line, 13 yards behind midfield.

Here's Don Crickey with the call of Dempsey's kick.

Not only will Tom Dempsey hits this one, he's got a very slight win at his back.

He'll set a National Football League record in addition to winning the game.

I don't believe this.

It's good.

I don't believe it.

The field goal attempt was good from 63 yards away.

It's incredible.

Tane Stadium has gone wild.

So there were some who said that Dempsey's special shoe gave him an unfair advantage in an ESPN Sports Science piece.

Decades later, their analysis found there was no advantage gained by the squared off shoe.

The NFL did make some changes though.

That wasn't a direct result of Dempsey's kick, but an effort to make field goals a little tougher in general.

They also added a rule about where the opposing team would get the football ball if a kick was missed.

Time now for today's nothing to do with sports Fun fact.

The Statue of Liberty has a 35 foot waistline and wears a size 879 shoe.

That's a wrap for today.

Come on back tomorrow for another edition of this day in sports history.

This has been an original Thrive suite production.