Grantland Rice, a famous sportswriter, helped make four Notre Dame football players famous when he named them the Four Horsemen in his newspaper column in 1924.

“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.”

Notre Dame’s legendary coach Knute Rockne made sure the name stuck when he had his backfield players pose 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. The Four Horsemen played 30 games as a unit and only lost twice to one team, Nebraska.

Revelation 9 – Sixth Trumpet

The Four Horsemen got their names from the book of Revelation (6:1-8). During the sixth of God’s judgments in chapter 9, they are released following the trumpet and kill one-third of the earth’s population. Despite this and the fifth judgment, some people still refused to repent of their sin and turn toward God.

 The Kingdom Coach and Athlete do everything they can to help people see why they need Jesus and the hope only He can bring to their lives.