thumb|350px|The Four Horsemen of Notre Dame: [[Don Miller (American football, born 1902)|Don Miller, Elmer Layden, Jim Crowley, and Harry Stuhldreher]]

The Four Horsemen of Notre Dame was a group of American football players at the University of Notre Dame under coach Knute Rockne. They were the backfield of Notre Dame's 1924 football team. The players who made up this group were Harry Stuhldreher, Don Miller, Jim Crowley, and Elmer Layden.

In 1924, a nickname coined by sportswriter Grantland Rice for the New York Herald Tribune and the actions of a student publicity aide transformed the Notre Dame backfield of Stuhldreher, Crowley, Miller, and Layden into one of the most noted groups of collegiate athletes in football history, the Four Horsemen of Notre Dame.

Quarterback Harry Stuhldreher, left halfback Jim Crowley, right halfback Don Miller, and fullback Elmer Layden had run successfully through Irish opponents' defenses since coach Knute Rockne devised the lineup in 1922 during their sophomore season. During the three-year tenure of the Four Horsemen, Notre Dame lost only two games, one each in 1922 and 1923, both to Nebraska in Lincoln before packed houses.

Naming

Grantland Rice gave the foursome its nickname after Notre Dame's 13–7 upset victory over a strong Army team on October 18, 1924.

George Strickler, then Rockne's student publicity aide and later sports editor of the Chicago Tribune, made sure the name stuck. He had pitched the idea out loud at the halftime of the Army game in the press box as a tie in to the 1921 Rudolph Valentino movie The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. After the team arrived back in South Bend, he posed the four players, dressed in their uniforms, on the backs of four horses from a livery stable in town. The wire services picked up the now-famous photo, and the legendary status of the Four Horsemen was assured.

All four players were elected to the College Football Hall of Fame — Layden in 1951, Stuhldreher in 1958, Crowley in 1966, and Miller in 1970. In 1998, the United States Postal Service honored the Four Horsemen with a stamp as part of 15 commemorative postage stamps saluting "The Roaring Twenties", which was part of their Celebrate the Century stamp sheet series.

The Seven Mules

After Rice nicknamed the so-called Horsemen, the Notre Dame line was identified as the "Seven Mules" to emphasize their crucial but less glamorous function. Two members of the line are also in the College Football Hall of Fame. Adam Walsh, from Hollywood, California, was the starting center and team captain. In later years, he coached at Santa Clara University and Bowdoin College and for the Cleveland/Los Angeles Rams. Walsh died in 1985. Edgar Miller was a tackle from Canton, Ohio. He later coached at the United States Naval Academy and died in 1991. Thus, a total of six members of the 1924 Notre Dame team have been elected to the College Football Hall of Fame. Yet another of the "Mules" was Joe Bach who went on to a coaching career that included two stints as head coach of the Pittsburgh Pirates/Steelers. Another of the Mules was George Vergara, who later played for the Green Bay Packers until his career ended with a neck injury. Later he became the Mayor of New Rochelle, New York.

Bibliography

  • Full text of Grantland Rice article from University of Notre Dame archives.
  • Loyal Sons: The Story of the Four Horsemen and Notre Dame Football's 1924 Champions

References

Sources

  • When Pride Still Mattered, A Life of Vince Lombardi, by David Maraniss, 1999, ()
  • Notre Dame Athletics - Traditions: The Four Horsemen