December 11, 2019 By Michael Hope A Yale, and Hopkins School grad, and known by most as “The Father of American Football”, Walter Camp played a leading role in the creation of football. In the sport’s infancy, football resembled both rugby, and Association Football, Camp proposed a series of changes, such as the introduction of a line of scrimmage, and the legalization of blocking, helping distinguish American football as its own identity. Camp attended Yale from 1876 to 1882 and was a member of the football team. As a member of the team, Camp played the halfback position, was team captain, and in 1878 became a member of the Intercollegiate Football Association, where he became a fixture. That same year at the Intercollegiate Football Association, Camp took the bold move in proposing the reduction of the number of players on a field from 15 to 11, a proposal that was initially rejected, but later implemented in 1880. (PFRA) That same year, Camp proposed another revolut...

By Nate Scaniffe The day of November 21st, 1914 started with great excitement in the quiet neighborhood of Westville in New Haven, Connecticut. Masses of people numbering over a hundred thousand descended on the gleaming new stadium Yale had constructed for its inaugural game. This day marked the first time Yale Bowl hosted a football game, a historic rivalry featuring Yale and Harvard. This has become a classic moment in the history of Westville and the larger New Haven area, Yale Athletics and the sport of football as a whole.             Football, despite its obscure beginnings at elite Ivy League universities and roots in the European game of rugby, became the game easily recognizable to all Americans today at Yale University. More specifically, Walter Camp, a Yale football player and coach, was the driving force behind creating a universal set of rules that organized the game of football into a modern game distinct from rugby and uniquely Ameri...