ELMER LAYDEN - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 07/17/1924 - HFSID 258766

ELMER LAYDEN. ALS: "Elmer", 4p, 6¾x10¼. Davenport, Ia., 1924 July 17. To Miss Evelyn Bynne, Dubuque, Iowa. In part: "It is a shame to let all the wonderful nites (sic) we have been having here go by. But I can't go out with myself. Joe & I have been weeping and wailing together, but still you--- I have been warned by you not to say the rest...I want you to come, because I want to see you and be with you...I surely hope that I see you before I go back to school. To think of that possibility makes me sad...I would like nothing better than to be able to whisper pretty things to you. There are so many things that I would like to tell you...Joe and I have been spending our time golfing and playing tennis...A fellow, named Stetson, with whom I used to play football & basketball in High School, wants me to go back to Galesburg with him...." Lightly creased. Fine condition. With original stamped, postmarked envelope addressed by Layden. Lightly creased, soiled, back flap torn touching return address. Three months after the All-American fullback wrote this letter to his girlfriend and returned to school (Notre Dame), the Irish defeated Army 13-7. After the October 18, 1924 game, sportswriter Grantland Rice wrote, in part: "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...." Layden was the fastest of the quartet. He served as Commissioner of the National Football League from 1941-1946. Two items.