In the movie, Rudy is portrayed as having largely gone into the steel industry after graduating high school. In reality, he served four years in the U.S. Navy as a yeoman on a communications ship, which is never mentioned.
In real life, Dan Devine was very supportive of Rudy and elected to put him in the game on his own. Because Devine considered Rudy a friend, he volunteered to play a villain in order to get the film greenlit.
Many of the priests and miscellaneous Notre Dame employees in the movie are actual Notre Dame employees.
The crowd scene when Rudy is cheering in the stands is a real game between Notre Dame and Penn State, which was played in the snow during the 1992 season. You can even see fans with Penn State hats sitting around Rudy.
While Rudy's real-life service in the U.S. Navy is not mentioned in the film, the military duffel bag he carries in numerous scenes is stenciled with his name and "U.S.N."
On Aug. 23, 1948, Daniel Ruettiger was born in Joliet, Illinois as the third child out of 14 in his family. At Joliet Catholic Academy, he was a standout cornerback in both his junior and senior seasons, leading his team in tackles both years. On paper, Rudy's statistics may have been considered a decent recruit for college football programs. However, there was one glaring weakness about the young teenager. Rudy stood merely 5'6" and weighed 165 pounds soaking wet.
Ara Parseghian promised Rudy that he would dress in his final season at Notre Dame. However, he hadn't promised that he would still be in South Bend. He stepped down following the end of the 1974 season. Dan Devine, the former coach of the Green Bay Packers, took over for Parseghian and became Rudy's head coach in his last season....On Nov. 8, 1975, Devine decided that Rudy was going to dress for the first and last time of his football career.....he saw action in two plays. The first, he was stopped and unable to get to the Yellow Jackets' quarterback, Rudy Allen.....However, on the second play, Rudy broke through the line full of 300-pounders and brought Allen down to the ground for the final play of the game. After an uproar in the crowd .....Rudy was lifted onto the shoulders of his teammates and carried off the field.
Cameo
Daniel 'Rudy' Ruettiger: In the final six minutes of the film, the real-life Rudy as a Notre Dame fan sitting in the football stands. While the crowd is shouting "Rudy, Rudy," the camera points to the crowd then cuts to a close-up of Rudy's "father" and "brother." Daniel 'Rudy' Ruettiger can be seen to the left of his "father" (Ned Beatty). Rudy is wearing a plaid driving cap and a dark coat with a white fur collar. Later during the cheering, his father turns and playfully bats at the real Rudy.
Theodore Hesburgh, Edmund Joyce: In the middle of the film, during the scene in which Father Cavanaugh speaks to Rudy in the Basilica, Notre Dame President Emeritus Father Theodore Hesburgh and Edmund (Ned) Joyce, Hesburgh's Vice-President, makes a cameo appearance. They are seen at the beginning of the scene walking in the Basilica to the right side of Father Cavanaugh's character. Father Hesburgh was President when the real Rudy Ruettiger attended Notre Dame. The Joyce Athletic and Convocation Center, on the Notre Dame Campus, was named after Ned Joyce.