22 Facts About Walter Camp

Walter Chauncey Camp was an American college football player and coach, and sports writer known as the "Father of American Football".

Walter Camp attended Yale College, where he played and coached college football.

Walter Camp was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach during 1951.

Walter Camp wrote articles and books on the gridiron and sports in general, annually publishing an "All-American" team.

The annual Walter Camp Award is named in his honor, recognizing the best all-around collegiate football player.

Walter Camp attended Hopkins Grammar School in New Haven, entered Yale College in 1875, and graduated in 1880.

Walter Camp attended Yale Medical School from 1880 to 1883, where his studies were interrupted first by an outbreak of typhoid fever and then by work for the Manhattan Watch Company.

Walter Camp worked for the New Haven Clock Company beginning in 1883, working his way up to chairman of the board of directors.

In 1873, Walter Camp attended a meeting where representatives from Columbia, Rutgers, Princeton, and Yale universities created the Intercollegiate Football Association.

Walter Camp played as a halfback at Yale from 1876 to 1882.

On June 30,1888, Walter Camp married Alice Graham Sumner, sister of sociologist William Graham Sumner.

Walter Camp is buried with his wife and children in Grove Street Cemetery in New Haven.

Walter Camp served as the head football coach at Yale from 1888 to 1892.

Walter Camp then moved on to Stanford University, where he coached in December 1892 and in 1894 and 1895.

Walter Camp was on the various collegiate football rules committees that developed the American game from his time as a player at Yale until his death.

Walter Camp proposed at the US College Football 1880 rules convention that the contested scrum be replaced with a "line of scrimmage" where the team with the ball started with uncontested possession and with each team fielding eleven players.

Walter Camp was 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 restart play.

Walter Camp's stories appeared in major daily newspapers throughout the United States.

Walter Camp was editor for several sports books published by the Spalding Athletic Library.

Walter Camp was a proponent of exercise, and not just for the athletes he coached.

Walter Camp has just developed for the Naval of setting up exercises that seems to fill the bill; a system designed to give a man a running jump start for the serious work of the day.

Walter Camp died of a heart attack on March 14,1925, in New York City.