463_11-2012.pdf

A Brief History Of American Football American Football was derived from early versions of soccer and rugby football, both of which originated from the United Kingdom, mid-1800s. Both soccer and rugby, and thus American football, have the objective of kicking the ball to a goal or over a line. Similar to soccer, American football also involves twenty-two players on the field. American football terms such as “fullback” and halfback,” which refer to positions, were also derived from the soccer sport.

American football resulted from a major divergence from the rules of rugby football, as instituted by Walter Camp, considered to be the “Father of American Football.”

The Father of American Football Walter Camp instituted the rules of American football in 1879. Born April 17, 1859 in New Haven, Connecticut, Walter Camp studied medicine and business in Yale from 1976 to 1882. He was a man of many talents, being an author, director of the Pecks Brother Company, and chairman of the board for the New Haven Clock Company. He was also the head advisory football coach and general athletic director at Yale from 1888 to 1914, as well as chairman of the Yale football committee. He had a major role in the evolution of American Football from the game of Soccer and Rugby, as we know the sport today. Chief to Walter Camp’s influence in changing the rules of the game was William Ebb Ellis, a student in an English Rugby School who was the first person known for picking up the soccer ball during a game and running with it towards the goal. It was in the Massosoit Convention in 1876 when the first attempt of establishing the rules for American football was made. Walter Camp edited the American Football rulebook until his last days in 1925.