About Little Gipper Spirit

After Jake Keyes wrote and released The Little Gipper’s Welcome to Notre Dame Football in 2012, he was contacted by young and old alike from throughout the country. Teachers, authors, former “ND” football players, and so many others were kind enough to reach out and congratulate Jake. Many of them posed the same type of thought-provoking question to Jake such as, “What’s your next project going to be?” or “How do you think we can get other young kids to find their passion?” It became pretty clear that Jake’s accomplishment could likely be a source of inspiration and encouragement to other young people.

Jake shared his journey with his sisters every step of the way. It took him hours of work and discipline to complete his project, and Grace and Tess witnessed this dedication. They understood the final product and the subsequent attention were not just handed to Jake. It took hard work and self-motivation. He had to learn new things, ask questions, seek help, and understand the whole process to be successful. Grace and Tess were proud of him, and his project inspired them to start thinking about their own.

After months of brainstorming, the family agreed they wanted to build on the success of The Little Gipper and expand on the opportunity to encourage young people to think bigger and become involved in their communities. With the help of their parents, Jake, Grace, and Tess came up with the idea of Little Gipper Spirit and are so excited to share the message.

They have many long-term ideas for the project, but chose to begin with two things. First, they want other kids to “Light The Flame”. Their message is to do what you love and share your time and talents with your community. If you do this, you’ve got the Spirit! Second, is the 2013-14 Little Gipper Spirit Essay Contest, an opportunity for children everywhere to share stories of living this Spirit.

Little Gipper Spirit began with one young man’s curiosity about a football team, but will hopefully prove that you just never know how much good can happen if you follow your heart and seek out ways to serve others.

Click here to learn all about our essay contest!