FSD History Flashback: October 18

On October 18, 1924, two games and two nicknames were brought to the forefront of college football. It was on this day that the grand opening game of the new Memorial Stadium at Illinois University had taken place between the Fighting Illini and Michigan Wolverines. Also, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Army Black Knights clashed in New York at the Polo Grounds, too.

Michigan(2-0) @ Illinois(2-0)

This was thought at the time to be a mismatch because Michigan had dominated opponents for the last two years at that point. But the Fighting Illini had a star that could combat the strong defense of Michigan by the name of Harold "Red" Grange.

On the opening kickoff of the game, Grange returned the ball for a 95-yard touchdown. Illinois got the ball back, and Grange proceeded to score three more touchdowns in the first 12 minutes of play. His three touchdowns were 67, 56, and 44 yards in that time frame. Michigan had allowed only four touchdowns in two years prior to this game.

Grange sat out the 2nd quarter of the game, but returned to help put Michigan away for good after half-time.

Grange scored his fifth touchdown of the game on an 11-yard run. He added his final touchdown of the game on a 20-yard pass as the Fighting Illini upset Michigan by the score of 39-14. Michigan had a 20-game unbeaten streak snapped after losing the game. The Galloping Ghost was officially born on this day.

Notre Dame(2-0) vs Army(2-0) in New York at the Polo Grounds

Both undefeated teams were centerstage in New York, and a group of young men left out as legends.

The Four Horsemen of Notre Dame consisting of QB Harry Stuhldreher, halfbacks Jim Crowley and Don Miller, and fullback Elmer Layden had gotten their names on this day after upset of Army.

In the 2nd quarter, all four men had a hand in putting Notre Dame out in front. Crowley had 27 total yards on their first scoring drive while Miller had a 20-yard run with Stuhldreher passing for 12 yards. Layden carried the ball twice, and scored a touchdown from the goal-line to give the Fighting Irish a 6-0 lead.

In the 3rd quarter, Layden intercepted a pass deep into Army territory. The Four Horsemen used three plays to score their second touchdown - this time from 21 yards out by Crowley as Notre Dame led 13-0. Notre Dame had two other drives that stalled because of an interception and turnover on downs in the last quarter against a tough Black Knights defense.

Army finally got on the board late in the game after a punt giving them good field position and penalties by Notre Dame. The score didn't indicate how dominate the Fighting Irish were in this game as they won 13-7.

After the team arrived back to campus, George Strickler took a picture of them in uniform on horses in a lively town. The wire services and public picked up on the photo, and is one of the most famous in sports history. Grantland Rice of the New York Herald Tribune overheard Strickler talking about Notre Dame and the Four Horsemen during the game in New York.

Grantland Rice

Grantland Rice of the New York Herald Tribune is credited as coming up with the nicknames of both Grange and the Four Horsemen. However, Grange was later interviewed, and has said it was actually Chicago sportswriter Warren Brown that first used his nickname. Here's the poetic description of Grange by Rice:

A streak of fire, a breath of flame
Eluding all who reach and clutch;
A gray ghost thrown into the game
That rival hands may never touch;
A rubber bounding, blasting soul
Whose destination is the goal — Red Grange of Illinois!

And here's the message Rice used to describe the Four Horsemen of Notre Dame:

"Outlined against a blue-gray October sky, the Four Horsemen rode again. In dramatic lore they are known as famine, pestilence, destruction and death. These are only aliases. Their real names are: Stuhldreher, Miller, Crowley 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."

So two of the most legendary names in the history of sports were coined on the same day after their wins. Notre Dame would go undefeated without being challenged by anyone the rest of the season as they won the National Title while also beating Stanford in the Rose Bowl 27-10. Illinois' only loss on the season was to Minnesota as the team went 6-1-1 on the year.

Here's a list of rankings by experts in various media outlets on Grange as well as background:

-No. 1 on the 2008 ESPN Top 25 Players in College Football History
-1969 College Football Writers Association of America had Grange on the all-time All-American team. He was the only unanimous choice on the team.
-No. 80 on the 1999 Sporting News 100 Greatest Football Players
-No. 28 on ESPN's Top North American Athletes of the 20th Century(Sports Century list)
-Grange was the only player in history to be in the inaugural class of the College Football Hall of Fame and Pro Football Hall of Fame.
-Grange was born in Forksville, Pennsylvania on June 13, 1903. He went to high school in Wheaton, Illinois. He died on January 28, 1991.

Some facts about the Four Horsemen of Notre Dame:
-The Four Horsemen came from the 1921 Rudolph Valentino movie, The Four Horsemen of the Apocolypse. Since then, other variations have been used from that movie. The most recently famous one was the Four Horsemen in pro wrestling that started in NWA Promotions in the mid-80s, and existed with different members to WCW and WWE.
-The legendary Knute Rockne put this group together on the field, and all four had played both sides of the ball.
-None of the Four Horsemen weighed over 162 pounds or stood taller than over six feet.
-The unit first played together in their sophmore years in 1922.
-They went 28-2 when they played together, and Nebraska was the only team to beat them which they did so in consecutive years.

Backgrounds of each player:
-Stuhldreher was 5'7" and weighed 151 pounds from Massilion, Ohio. He was the leader and field general for the group. Stuhldreher was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1958. He was born on October 14, 1901 in Massilion. He died in Pittsburgh, PA on January 26, 1965.
-Crowley was 5'11" and weighed 162 pounds from Green Bay, Wisconsin. Crowley used his great vision to avoid defenses on the field. Crowley was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1966. Crowley was born in Chicago, Illinois on September 10, 1902, and went to high school at East Green Bay High School. He died in Scranton, PA on January 15, 1986.
-Miller was 5'11" and weighed 160 pounds from Defiance, Ohio. Rockne said he was the greatest open-field runner he ever coached. Miller was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1970. He was born on May 30, 1902 in Ohio. he died on July 28, 1979.
-Layden was 6'0" and weighed 162 pounds from Davenport, Iowa. Layden was the fastest of the group, and was a star on defense and punt returning, too. Layden was the first of the group to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951. He was born on May 4, 1903 in Iowa. He died on June 30, 1973.

The nicknames for both Grange and the Four Horsemen of Notre Dame was synonymous with the Roaring 20s. Grange was the icon for all of football both college and pro in the same manner that Babe Ruth was in baseball during that time. The roaring 20s were a time when heroes were coined with nicknames that were just as legendary as the ability of the players behind them. Perhaps if neither team was successful, none of the names would have stuck. Grange turned out to be the most successful football player of the group, and the Four Horsemen had forever made their mark on the game. But it was this day on October 18, 1924 that both the Galloping Ghost and the Four Horsemen of Notre Dame famously rode into the etches of time.

Photo Grange is a commemorative stamp found at fightingillini.cstv.com
Photo of the Four Horsemen of Notre Dame by the U.S. Postal Service as a commemorative stamp released in 1998 which includes 15 total stamps from the Roaring 20s that year.

Thanks for viewing, and I hope you enjoyed today's FSD History Flashback!

Posted in: Army, college football, football, Four Horsemen, Illinois, Michigan, NCAA football, Notre Dame, Red Grange

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