SLIPPERY ROCK — Ru-dy! Ru-dy!

That's what fans at the New Castle Thunder minor league football game most likely will be chanting Saturday evening at Slippery Rock University's N. Kerr Thompson Stadium.

Daniel "Rudy" Ruettiger, who became famous as a walk-on member of the Notre Dame football team and for his quarterback sack on his only collegiate play, will speak at halftime of the Thunder's season opener against the Ohio Invaders.

Thunder owner-general manager Anthony Razzano met Ruettiger at an awards dinner in 1992.

When Razzano was thinking of a motivational speaker to help kick off New Castle's second season, Ruettiger came quickly to his mind.

Razzano said there is no more perfect person to speak at a minor league football game than Ruettiger.

The Thunder play in the North American Football League, which has the motto "For the Love of The Game."

Who better than "Rudy" to appear at halftime?

"That's exactly what I saw when we were thinking about bringing someone in to speak," Razzano said. "In this day and age of athletes having the show-me-the-money mentality, of Adam "Pac-Man" Jones getting arrested and Terrell Owens doing crunches in his backyard while his teammates are at training camp, we have a bunch of guys who are playing for the love of the game."

Ruettiger was one of 14 children and always aspired to attended Notre Dame.

When he was at Holy Cross Junior College, nestled across the street from Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., Ruettiger was diagnosed with dyslexia.

That didn't keep him out of Notre Dame, even after the university rejected his application three times.

In 1974, he finally was accepted at Notre Dame and walked on to the football team, where he spent time on the practice team before finally getting on the field for 27 seconds in the final game of his career.

"You have to be willing to make tough decisions," Ruettiger said. "Reality is getting into turmoil and getting our of turmoil. A lot of (people) told me to quit — just take the fundamentals that you learned and put them into practice."

Ruettiger, who was 5-feet-6 and 165 pounds when he played, is still the only Irish player ever carried off the field by teammates.

The Thunder are glad to have him.

"We are very excited," Razzano said. "No one can set a better example for these guys than someone who fought and clawed to get on the field just because he loved the game so much."

Ruettiger now spends the bulk of his time as a motivational speaker and appears all over the country.

He also runs the Rudy Foundation, which helps children build self-esteem.

"We all have dreams," Ruettiger said. "Most people have fantasies when they are young. You've got to be able to follow your heart."