The remains of Notre Dame's first All-American, who inspired the rallying cry "win one for the Gipper" and was portrayed on screen by Ronald Reagan, were taken last month from a grave in Michigan's Upper Peninsula — 87 years after he died from pneumonia and a strep infection.

His right femur was removed and DNA samples compared with skin tissue from Bette Bright Weeks of Crown Point, Ind., who died last January at age 86. Weeks had been told Gipp was her father, said Mike Bynum, a sports author planning a book on the football legend.

Tests at a Texas laboratory showed no link between the two, said Bynum and Rick Frueh of Chicago, a great-nephew of Gipp's who requested the exhumation. Frueh said he still believed the action was justified to determine whether rumors that Gipp had fathered a child were true.

"Helping family is the strongest act of love that we can offer each other. And if it happened again, our response would be the same," Frueh said in a statement.

Karl Gipp, who lives about 40 miles from George Gipp's hometown of Laurium and said they were first cousins once removed, described the treatment of the body as "a disgrace to George himself and the community."

He said the probate court in Houghton County had appointed him Friday as the "personal representative" of George Gipp's estate, and he had retained attorneys to investigate how the matter was handled.

Gipp died in 1920 during his senior year at Notre Dame, where he set a school career rushing record that stood for more than 50 years.

He is best known for the deathbed exhortation attributed to him years later by coach Knute Rockne, who inspired the underdog Fighting Irish by telling them Gipp had urged the team when the chips were down to "win one for the Gipper."

The phrase became a political slogan for Reagan, who played the part of Gipp in the 1940 movie "Knute Rockne, All American."

Gipp remains a hero in the adjacent villages of Laurium and Calumet, a one-time copper mining center where he was born in 1895. Calumet High School presents an award named for him to its top male athlete each year, and Laurium has a park in his honor.

Bynum said while researching his book, he came across an Internet posting from several years ago by a woman who believed she was a descendant of the football great. She was a granddaughter of Eva Bright, a South Bend, Ind., woman Gipp had dated for about a year before his death, Bynum said. Eva Bright's daughter, Elizabeth Leone Bright, was born Dec. 19, 1920. Gipp had died five days earlier.

Bynum said he helped put the woman in touch with Frueh and other Gipp relatives. Frueh, whose grandmother was Gipp's sister, eventually decided to have the body removed for DNA testing and filed an affidavit with Houghton County officials.

Dr. Dawn Nulf, the county medical examiner, said she and the local health department approved the Oct. 4 exhumation after determining Feuh's request met legal requirements.

"It was done with utmost respect," said Nulf, who removed Gipp's femur. The rest of his body was reburied the same day, she said.

The exhumation was filmed by an ESPN crew for an upcoming program about Gipp. Bynum, who contacted the network and attended the exhumation, said he and Frueh had no financial motivation.