Four Horsemen ( American football ) The Four Horsemen of Notre Dame comprised a winning 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 that made up this group were Harry Stuhldreher , Don Miller , Jim Crowley , and Elmer Layden . In 1924 , a dramatic nickname coined by a poetic sportswriter , Grantland Rice , and the quick - thinking actions of a clever student publicity aide transformed the Notre Dame backfield of Stuhldreher , Crowley , Miller and Layden into the most fabled quartet in college 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 rampant through Irish opponents ' defenses since coach Knute Rockne devised the lineup in 1922 during their sophomore season . During the entire 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 . The foursome needed some help from Grantland Rice , a sportswriter for the former " New York Herald Tribune " , to achieve football immortality . After Notre Dame ' s 13 – 7 upset victory over a strong Army team , on October 18 , 1924 , Rice penned " the most famous football lead of all - time " : Outlined against a blue - gray October sky , the Four Horsemen rode again . In dramatic lore their names are Death , Destruction , Pestilence , and Famine . But those are aliases . Their real names are : Stuhldreher , Crowley , Miller and Layden . 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 . 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 . " At the time , I didn ' t realize the impact it would have , " Crowley said later . " But the thing just mushroomed . After the splurge in the press , the sports fans of the nation got interested in us along with other sportswriters . Our record helped , too . If we ' d lost a couple . I don ' t think we would have been remembered . " 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 perfect 10 – 0 record . As it usually is with legends , the Four Horsemen earned their spot in gridiron history . Although none of the four stood taller than six feet and none of the four weighed more than 162 pounds , the Four Horsemen might comprise the greatest backfield ever . As a unit , Stuhldreher , Crowley , Miller and Layden played 30 games and only lost to one team , Nebraska , twice . They played at a time when there were no separate offensive and defensive teams . All players had to play both sides . Once a player left the field , he could not come back into the game . Backgrounds . Stuhldreher , a 5 - 7 , 151 - pounder from Massillon , Ohio , was a self - assured leader who not only could throw accurately but also returned punts and proved a solid blocker . He emerged as the starting signal caller four games into his sophomore season in 1922 . He was often labeled cocky , feisty and ambitious , but his field generalship was unmatched . Crowley , who came to Notre Dame in 1921 from Mine 38 in Seanor , Pennsylvania , stood 5 - 11 and weighed 162 pounds . Known as " Sleepy Jim " for his drowsy - eyed appearance , Crowley outmaneuvered many a defender with his clever , shifty ballcarrying . Miller , a native of Defiance , Ohio , followed his three brothers to Notre Dame . At 5 - 11 , 160 pounds , Miller proved to be the team ' s breakaway threat . According to Rockne , Miller was the greatest open - field runner he ever coached . Layden , the fastest of the quartet , became the Irish defensive star with his timely interceptions and also handled the punting chores . The 6 - foot , 162 - pounder from Davenport , Iowa boasted 10 - second speed in the 100 - yard dash . Later lives . After graduation , the lives of the Four Horsemen took similar paths . All began coaching careers , with three of the four occupying top positions . As players , the four reunited for one game for the Hartford Blues in 1925 ( Stuldreher was already playing for the team that year ) ; the Blues , however , lost 13 - 6 to the Cleveland Bulldogs . Two of the four , Layden and Stuhldreher , were the namesakes of the professional Brooklyn Horsemen team for whom they played in 1926 . Layden coached at his alma mater for seven years and compiled a 47 – 13 – 3 record . He also served as athletic director at Notre Dame , and later as commissioner of the National Football League . After a business career in Chicago , Layden died in 1973 at the age of 70 . Crowley started as an assistant coach at the University of Georgia . He quickly moved to head coaching positions at Michigan State University and Fordham University where his famed line , the " Seven Blocks of Granite , " included Vince Lombardi . His Fordham teams played in the Cotton Bowl Classic and Sugar Bowl . His overall record was 78 – 21 – 10 . Crowley also served as commissioner of the All - America Football Conference . He later entered business in Scranton , Pennsylvania . The last surviving Horseman , Crowley died in 1986 at the age of 83 . Stuhldreher , who died in 1965 at the age of 63 , was the head football coach for 11 years at Villanova University , then became athletic director and football coach at the University of Wisconsin – Madison . He later worked for U . S . Steel . Miller left coaching after four years at Georgia Tech and began practicing law in Cleveland . He was appointed U . S . District Attorney for Northern Ohio by President Franklin D . Roosevelt . Miller died in 1979 at the age of 77 . 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 their own stamp as part of 15 commemorative postage stamps saluting " The Roaring Twenties . " The Seven Mules . After the Horsemen got their name , someone named their line the " Seven Mules . " 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 . Another of the " Mules " was Joe Bach who went on to a coaching career that would include two stints as head coach of the .