On this day (June 30) in 1973, Elmer Layden, the fullback of Notre Dame’s famed “Four Horsemen” backfield and later head coach of the Fighting Irish, died in Chicago at age 70. He was the second of the Four Horsemen to die, following quarterback Harry Stuhldreher, who died in 1965 at age 63.
Elmer Layden: ND star, coach, and first NFL commissioner.
Layden, a track star from Davenport, Iowa, went from a homesick Notre Dame freshman, regularly planning or taking trips back to the Quad Cities, to, as Coach Knute Rockne put it, a “new kind of fullback” when he was called off the bench to replace injured Paul Castner during the 1922 season. He joined Stuhldreher, Don Miller and Jim Crowley, already sophomore fixtures in the Irish backfield. At just 161 pounds, he would be a slashing runner, precision kicker, and fierce defender.
In 1924, Layden was named All-American, helping the Fighting Irish to a 10-0 season and their first national championship. He was the star of the 1925 Rose Bowl victory over Stanford, running back two interceptions for touchdowns in a 27-10 triumph. After head coaching stops at Columbia College in Iowa (today’s Loras University) and Duquesne, Layden served as head coach of Notre Dame from 1934-40, compiling a record of 47-13-3, producing numerous All-Americans and notable victories.
Early in 1941, the National Football League was looking for its first full-time commissioner. The job was offered to Chicago sports writer Arch Ward, a Notre Dame man who had been one of Rockne’s first student publicity aides, a key post in developing the popularity of Notre Dame football. Ward turned it down, but suggested the owners hire Layden, which they did at a salary of $20,000, nearly doubling what he made as ND’s football coach and athletic director.
“It came as quite a shock to everybody connected with Notre Dame football,” he later recalled. “It was doubly surprising to many of my friends because they had the idea I was well on my way to becoming a Notre Dame institution, perhaps not on a par with Rockne, but on a level of my own.”
Layden directed the NFL through the tumultuous war years, before moving on in 1946 to other business interests, primarily in transportation. He was among the inaugural class of inductees into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951. Through the years, he treasured every opportunity to reunite with Stuhldreher, Crowley, and Miller, as they were among the most popular after-dinner speakers in the nation.
“Football is a great sport,” he wrote in his autobiography. “A lot of fun for boys of every age, and it should be kept that way. It’s a sport, always was, and always should be.”
Next: Jesse Harper (July 1)
