Walter Camp
Walter Chauncey Camp (born April 7, 1859 in New Britain, Connecticut , † March 14, 1925 in New York City ) was an American sports pioneer, football coach and sports journalist who is considered the inventor of American football . Because of its importance to American football, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951 as one of the first .
Walter Camp's life's work
At the time of Camp's youth, soccer was the most popular sport for "tough guys". However, the two most important universities in the USA at the time, Yale and Harvard , decided to play rugby . This was how the first Harvard-Yale rugby match came about in 1876 . Camp was, on Yale's side, a player in this encounter. However, he didn't like the rules, so he added new ones and basically invented a new sport, American football.
After his active time as a football player at Yale University from 1877 to 1882, he took over the post of coach from 1888 to 1891. During this time he refined his modifications of the rules. He then began writing for newspapers, authored books and invented the term All-American team. This is an award that still exists today for the best college players of a year who are grouped together in a fictional team.
Since football was a pure amateur sport at the time and there was little money to be made from it, he had to work in the management of a watch manufacturer. In addition, he received a small bonus as treasurer of Yale Financial Union (YFU), which oversaw all activities of Yale University athletes. After more than 10 years of activity, he managed to acquire $ 100,000 from the YFU to build the Yale Bowl . A stadium that still hosts Yale's home games and that opened in 1914.
Also in his later life he dealt with football and was a member of the Intercollegiate Football Rules Committee, which dealt with the safety of players. Camp worked for many years to ban the so-called "Flying Wedge" game because it had killed various players.
In 1925 he died of a heart attack at a Rules Committee meeting.
The award for the best college player of a past season was later named after Walter Camp, the Walter Camp Award . This is not to be confused with the Heisman Trophy , which is awarded to the most conspicuous player in a college season.
Camps innovations
Camp modified various rugby rules to create football, including:
- Fixed to 11 players per team
- Introduction of the down system, in which each team has 4 attempts to bridge 10 yards (camps first approach were 3 attempts for 5 yards)
- a new points system that has been changed several times since then
- as well as the snap from the center.
Honors
The United States Postal Service issued a postage stamp with his image in his honor in August 2003.
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| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Camp, Walter |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Camp, Walter Chauncey (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American sports pioneer, football coach, and sports journalist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 7, 1859 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | New Britain, Connecticut |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 14, 1925 |
| Place of death | New York City |