Walter Camp
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Walter Chauncey Camp (April 7, 1859 – March 14, 1925) was a sports writer and American football coach known as the "Father of American Football". With John Heisman, Amos Alonzo Stagg, Glenn Scobey Warner, Fielding H. Yost, and George Halas, Walter C. Camp was one of the most accomplished persons in the history of American football.
Camp was born in the city of New Britain, Connecticut, the son of Leverett L. and Ellen Cornwell Camp. He attended Hopkins Grammar School in New Haven, entered Yale College in 1876 and was graduated in 1880. At Yale he was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity.
By the age of thirty-three, a scant twelve years after graduating from Yale, Walter Camp had already become known as the "Father of American Football". In a column in the popular magazine Harper's Weekly, sports columnist Caspar Whitney had applied the nickname; the sobriquet was appropriate because, by 1892, Camp had almost single-handedly fashioned the game of modern American football.
Rules Committee and Writing
His was the dominant voice on the various collegiate football rules committees that developed the American game from his time as a player at Yale until his death. He is credited with innovations such as the snap-back from center, the system of downs, and the points system, as well the introduction of the long-standard offensive arrangement of players (a seven-man offensive line and a four-man backfield consisting of a quarterback, two halfbacks, and a fullback). Camp was also responsible for introducing the "safety", the awarding of two points to the defensive side for tackling a ball carrier in his own end zone followed by a free kick by the offense from its own 20-yard line (to change possession). This is significant as rugby union has no point value award for this action, but instead awards a scrummage to the attacking side five yards from the goalline.
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Despite having a full-time job at the New Haven Clock Company and being an unpaid yet very involved advisor to the Yale football team, Camp wrote articles and books on gridiron and also on sports in general. By the time of his death, he had written nearly 30 books and more than 250 magazine articles. His articles appeared in national periodicals such as Harper's Weekly, Collier's, Outing, Outlook, and The Independent, and in juvenile magazines such as St. Nicholas, Youth's Companion and Boys' Magazine. His stories also appeared in major daily newspapers throughout the United States.
He also selected an annual "All-American" team.
According to his biographer, Richard P. Borkowski, "Camp was instrumental through writing and lecturing in attaching an almost mythical atmosphere of manliness and heroism to the game not previously known in American team sports."
References
- Ronald A. Smith, Sports and Freedom: The Rise of Big-Time College Athletics, (1990)
See also
All-America
Yale University
Camp (surname)