George Gipp Exhumation Update

Earlier on this blog, I reported that George Gipp, the Notre Dame football legend who died in 1920, was exhumed on October 4, 2007 to determine whether he was the grandfather of Ellen Easton.  The results, revealed on November 8, 2007, proved that Gipp was not related to Ellen.

According to Richard Sandomir, Cousins Sue Over Gipp Exhumation, NY Times, Nov. 17. 2007:

Two distant cousins of George Gipp filed suit [November 16, 2007] in a Michigan court against his great-nephew, ESPN, a biographer of Gipp’s and several others over the exhumation last month of the remains of Gipp * * *

“The carnage at the gravesite was amazing,” said Torger Omdahl, the lawyer for Karl and Ronald Gipp and their wives. * * *

Mike Bynum, who is writing a biography of Gipp to be published next year, said, “This is very sad because some distant relatives cannot respect their cousin who was trying to do something very Christian to help a family find” genetic answers.

Both sides accused the other of seeking to profit from the exhumation. The lawsuit says Bynum could have had a financial benefit from learning if Gipp’s daughter was Bette Bright Weeks, born five days after Gipp died.

Bynum accused the Gipps, who are seeking at least $25,000, of “an old-fashioned money grab where they’re going for deep pockets and they don’t have legal standing.”