Elmer Layden
Football Player
One of the Four Horsemen of Notre Dame during his playing days; later became commissioner of the NFL.
Making up one-quarter of arguably the best backfield in college football history, he topped off his college playing career with a 1925 defeat of Stanford at the Rose Bowl.
He became coach at Notre Dame after his legendary predecessor Knute Rockne was killed in a plane crash; in his seven seasons with the team he compiled a 47-13 record, with a classic win over Ohio State in 1935.
He grew up in Davenport, Iowa.
Grantland Rice was the reporter who dubbed him and his Notre Dame compatriots The Four Horsemen.