Post by Coach Campbell on Oct 1, 2014 22:07:58 GMT
Who invented football?
The man most responsible for the transition from this rugby-like game to the sport of football we know today was Walter Camp, known as the "Father of American Football." As a Yale undergraduate and medical student from 1876 to 1881, he played halfback and served as team captain, equivalent to head coach at the time. Even more importantly, he was the guiding force on the rules board of the newly formed Intercollegiate Football Association (IFA). Thanks to Camp, the IFA made two key innovations to the fledgling game: It did away with the opening "scrummage" or "scrum" and introduced the requirement that a team give up the ball after failing to move down the field a specified yardage in a certain number of "downs." Among the other innovations Camp introduced were the 11-man team, the quarterback position, the line of scrimmage, offensive signal-calling and the scoring scale used in football today. In addition to his work with the rules board, Camp coached the Yale team to a 67-2 record from 1888 to 1892—all while working as an executive at a watch-manufacturing firm.
The man most responsible for the transition from this rugby-like game to the sport of football we know today was Walter Camp, known as the "Father of American Football." As a Yale undergraduate and medical student from 1876 to 1881, he played halfback and served as team captain, equivalent to head coach at the time. Even more importantly, he was the guiding force on the rules board of the newly formed Intercollegiate Football Association (IFA). Thanks to Camp, the IFA made two key innovations to the fledgling game: It did away with the opening "scrummage" or "scrum" and introduced the requirement that a team give up the ball after failing to move down the field a specified yardage in a certain number of "downs." Among the other innovations Camp introduced were the 11-man team, the quarterback position, the line of scrimmage, offensive signal-calling and the scoring scale used in football today. In addition to his work with the rules board, Camp coached the Yale team to a 67-2 record from 1888 to 1892—all while working as an executive at a watch-manufacturing firm.