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History of American Football

Favorite Sport in the United States Evolves from Soccer and Rugby

© Jennifer Carroll

Nov 1, 2009
Walter Camp helped invent American Football, Public Domain
Originally a blend of rugby and soccer, football players in the United States begin to shape the identity of this uniquely American sport in the 1880s.

In 1866 Beadle's Dime Book of Cricket and Football was published in New York City. It defined, for the first time, some of the earliest terms and "laws" intrinsic to what was then a relatively new sport in the United States: American football.

Similar to the contemporary development of rugby in England, American football was a popular university intramural, with games resembling athletic brouhahas because each school played its own version. In an historic match that blended aspects of soccer, rugby and football, Princeton and Rutgers played the first intercollegiate football game in 1869. Rutgers won six goals to four.

Walter Camp Contributes Important Rules and Helps Define American Football

Four years later, representatives from Columbia, Princeton, Rutgers and Yale met to establish the first intercollegiate rules of play for football. By 1874 players were permitted to run with a football – now oblong instead of round – and kick a goal after scoring a touchdown. This forerunner of the extra point was originally worth more than the touchdown itself.

Walter Camp, a star player at Yale University who made significant contributions to the creation of American football, crafted several major hallmarks of the game in 1880, including

  • The concept of downs, giving each team a period of definite ball possession. In rugby, teams battle for possession after every play.
  • The line of scrimmage, which takes the place of the rugby scrum (the interlocking pack of players that battle for possession).
  • Kicking the ball to an opponent after three downs.
  • Reducing the size of the playing field.
  • Limiting the number of players on the field.

As a result of definite possession, teams soon devised the quarterback position. In Camp's day, football was a running game, and the quarterback's main duty centered on handing off the football. Most plays ended in a big pile-up on top of the ball carrier.

Significant Milestones in the Evolution of American Football

Throughout the remainder of the 19th century and into the 20th, football continued to evolve into the game Americans love today. The following timeline provides several important milestones:

  • 1882 – The playing field is marked with white lines at five-yard intervals along the width of the field, creating the well-known gridiron.
  • 1883 – Uniform scoring is established, including five points for a goal kicked from the field of play, four for a goal on the free kick after a touchdown, two for a touchdown and one for a safety.
  • 1888 – Tackling below the waist is allowed for the first time. To protect the ball carrier, offensive lines line up shoulder to shoulder.
  • 1889 – First All Americans are selected for Harper's Weekly.
  • 1891 – First college football game is played at night under lights at Yale.
  • 1895 – Big Ten conference is organized.
  • 1897 – The touchdown is given a five-point value and the goal after the touchdown is reduced to one point.
  • 1902 – First Rose Bowl is played on New Year's Day at Tournament Park in Pasadena, Calif., between Michigan and Stanford.
  • 1906 – The forward pass is legalized.
  • 1909 – The field goal is reduced from four points to three.
  • 1912 – The touchdown is given the point value of six, and the length of the football field is reduced to 100 yards with endzones. Teams are allowed four downs instead of three.
  • 1916 – Pac-10 is formed.
  • 1927 – Goals posts are moved 10 yards back from the goal line to the end line. The first College All-Star game is played at Soldier Field in Chicago.
  • 1935 – First Heisman Trophy is awarded to Jay Barwanger, halfback for University of Chicago.
  • 1951 – First televised college game is broadcast to a national audience.

Learn more about college football yesterday and today at the College Football Hall of Fame Web site.

Sources:

Buckley, James Jr. America's Greatest Game: the Real Story of Football and the NFL. New York: Hyperion Books for Children, 1998. Print.

Whittingham, Richard. Rites of Autumn: the Story of College Football. New York: Simon & Schuster Source, 2001. Print.


The copyright of the article History of American Football in Football is owned by Jennifer Carroll. Permission to republish History of American Football in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.


Walter Camp helped invent American Football, Public Domain Walter Camp helped invent American Football
American football at Colgate University, Public Domain American football at Colgate University


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