Four Horsemen (American football)

The players that made up this group were Harry Stuhldreher, Don Miller, Jim Crowley, and Elmer Layden.

[1] In 1924, a nickname coined by sportswriter Grantland Rice 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.

[2] Quarterback Harry Stuhldreher, left halfback Jim Crowley, right halfback Don Miller, and fullback Elmer Layden had run rampant 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.

They formed the crest of the South Bend cyclone before which another fighting Army team was swept over the precipice at the Polo Grounds this afternoon as 55,000 spectators peered down upon the bewildering panorama spread out upon the green plain below.

[3]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 that win over Army, Notre Dame's third straight victory of the young season, the Irish were rarely threatened the rest of the year.

A 27–10 win over Stanford in the 1925 Rose Bowl gave Rockne and Notre Dame the national championship and a 10–0 record.

Although none of the four stood taller than six feet or weighed more than 162 pounds, they played 30 games as a unit and only lost to one team, Nebraska, twice.

Layden, the fastest of the quartet, became the Irish defensive star with his timely interceptions and handled the punting chores.

[8] After the Horsemen got their name, the Notre Dame line was nicknamed the "Seven Mules" to emphasize their crucial but less glamorous function.

Thus, a total of six members of the 1924 Notre Dame team have been elected to the College Football Hall of Fame.

Another Mule was George Vergara who later played for the Green Bay Packers and his career ended with a neck injury.