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I don't think GCC can take any credit for C becoming a popular language. GCC 1.0 was only released in 1987, and prior to that most people were stuck using proprietary compilers. I would rather say C succeeded because it was tied to Unix, and Unix was very successful.

GCC certainly contributed to C continuing to be widely used.

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My feeling is that it is fair to say that gcc contributed to linux existing, and linux has had a large positive influence on c's current life.

That said, you are definitely correct in C's early popularity. And that probably contributes more heavily than later items. (There is a term for this, but I can't remember it right off.)

Quite right.

Before UNIX became part of the enterprise workforce very few cared about C.

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