Elmer Layden
- Hartford Blues ( 1925)
- Brooklyn Horsemen (1926 )
- Rock Iceland Independents (1926 )
- College Football Hall of Fame (1951 )
Elmer Francis Layden ( born May 4, 1903 in Davenport, Iowa, † June 30, 1973 in Chicago, Illinois ) Nickname: The Thin Man, an American football player and coach was, and Managing Director of the National Football League ( NFL). He has played at the University of Notre Dame.
Career
College Players
Layden played from 1922 to 1924 in South Bend at the University of Notre Dame at the Knute Rockne of Notre Dame Fighting Irish trained. In the first year he was initially mainly used as a halfback, but then moved to the position of full backs. Layden was however used in other positions. Together with three other players from the attack of the Fighting Irish, the quarterback Harry Stuhldreher and the Half Backs Jim Crowley and Don Miller, he formed the authority designated by sports journalist Grantland Rice as the Four Horsemen of Notre Dame formation that were most feared by opposing defenses. 1924, the team from Indiana won the national college football championship. On January 1, 1925 played his team Rose Bowl against Stanford University and defeated them with 27:10. Layden played outstanding. So he could two interceptions and a fumble, which was created from a dropped punt, carry back into the opponent's end zone. By means of a run, he scored his fourth touchdown then.
Professional players
Layden played in 1925 and 1926, only a few games as a professional footballer. In 1925 he ran for the Hartford Blues, which were until 1926 a member of the NFL. In the American Football League ( not the same as the league was founded in 1960 with the same name! ) He graduated at the Brooklyn Horsemen and the skirt Iceland Independents only one game. Personal successes, he could not achieve in the league. The League presented after one year their game operation again.
Coach
Layden coached until 1940 a total of three colleges: 1925-1926 Columbia College in Dubuque, Iowa, from 1927 to 1933, the Duquesne University in Pittsburgh and from 1934 to 1940 the team of the University of Notre Dame. Although he won more games regularly, than to lose, with no team a national title, he was awarded.
Managing in the NFL
Layden graduated in 1941 a five- year contract with the NFL, and led them to an annual income of $ 20,000 through the hard times of World War 2. At this time, many players were not available because they had been recruited by the American forces. As a result, former players like Bronko Nagurski and Bill Hewitt have been reactivated. Because of the players lack the Philadelphia Eagles and the Pittsburgh Steelers were even forced to temporarily unite to the Phil -Pitt STEAGLES. Other team put out completely. After the expiry of his contract, Layden retired to private life.
Off the pitch
1931 Layden appeared in the feature film The Spirit of Notre Dame on the side of his former teammates chair turners, Miller and Crowley. The main role in this Hollywood film starred Lew Ayres.
Honors
Layden was elected in 1924 to the All American and is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame since 1951. For his achievements in the Rose Bowl in 1925, he was elected Most Valuable Player (MVP). The U.S. Post honored the Four Horsemen in 1998 on a postage stamp.
After the Football Career
Layden was married and worked after his football career as a businessman in Chicago. He is on the Calvary Cemetery in Evanston, Illinois, buried.