Photograph as originally submitted to this page in the Historical Marker Database www.HMdb.org. Click on photo to resize in browser. Scroll down to see metadata.

Photographer: Allen C. Browne
Taken: December 12, 2017
Caption: Walter Camp
Additional Description: This c. 1960 painting by Albert W. Hampson after a 1925 photograph of Walter Camp (1859-1925) hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.

“The undisputed ‘Father of American Football,’ Walter Camp introduced the innovative rule changes that transformed English rugby into a uniquely American game. Camp was a stellar player on the Yale football squad (1876-82), but his off-the-field contributions to the emerging sport were of even greater importance. A member of the Intercollegiate Football Association's rules committee for forty-eight years beginning in 1877, Camp spearheaded the initiatives that reduced teams from fifteen to eleven players and created the key position of quarterback. He instituted the line of scrimmage, suggested a system of downs to govern possession of the ball, devised the present-day point system, and is credited with developing the distinctive gridiron pattern of the playing field. In short, no one proved more influential than Walter Camp in shaping the structure of the modern game.” – National Portrait Gallery
Submitted: December 25, 2017, by Allen C. Browne of Silver Spring, Maryland.
Database Locator Identification Number: p409812
File Size: 1.586 Megabytes

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