Formation of Football

This tale from football's past travels back to the game's humble beginnings, the foundational root of the game itself.

A young man a while back, spent almost every morning stretching and twisting side to side as he rose up out of bed. He was inspired by reading about his heroes such as Abe Lincoln, James J. Hill and Marshall Field who kept themselves in tip top shape by performing physical labors each day. Lincoln adopted his physcique by repeatedly swinging an axe for the families firewood while Field and Hill performed the laborious work of farming. This young boy though did not live in the wilderness or on a farm, he was the son of school teachers in a city in the East. In fact he never did any manual labor his entire life save the obligatory household chores. He would run, climb trees and routinely perform calastenics to build his muscles and physical stamina. It is not hard to imagine this boy kicking a black rubber ball around the back yard of his home. Perhaps targetting clothes hanging out on the line, then getting scolded by his mother for getting black marks on his father's freshly laundered shirt that was out to dry after the ball found its mark. He may have then had to render to finding a tree or fence to kick at. It is said that he spent hours upon hours practicing to handle the ball with both his feet and hands. How best to cradle it under an arm, where to kick it so that it would sail high into the air or how to field it off a bounce. Self regiment, repetitive purposeful motions and discipline were how he trained himself to be an athlete. 

All of his life he would refuse cigarettes a second helping of desert. The lad learned to get much more fun out of self-denial than out of indulgence. He was driven to succeed at athletics, so even as a boy he trained his mind and body to perform to win. As a student he strived to excel in both sports and in the classroom.

He was diligent in everything he did. When introduced to the game of golf, he took practice swings for hours on end, trying to perfect the action for optimal results. This went all the way back to his days in grammar school where as soon as the class was excused for recess, he was the first boy on the playgorund kicking a black rubber ball around. He would toss it high in the air and catch it, kick it as far as he could and learn to kick it further with each swing of his leg. When he ran, he studied how to get the most from each stride, when watching someone row a boat competitively, he looked for the most productive stroke. There was no organized ball games or sport at his grammar school, but just down the road was Yale University and this boy as did many of his classmates watched and dreamed about one day playing baseball or becoming an oarsman for the Elis.

The picture is now becoming clearer for you. The town of New Haven, Connecticut is our setting and the yoin man's name was Walter Camp. Yes that guy that formulated football from its roots of soccer and rugby by reading about and observing others, including some fellas from Canada that had a version of football all there own. Camp studied many sports in detail, honed his own performances and tone his athletic body. However most importantly he learned how to help others do the same and his acute study of sports helped him assemble rules that would change the game forever. His persistence on regimented physical excercise would change a nation when he formally helped the U.S. armed forces with his routine of the Daily Dozen, supported by the President of the country himself.

Giving credit to where it is due, the story of Camp's early life was gathered from a 1926 biography titled simply; Walter Camp by Harford Powel. The author did such a nice job of giving us all a glimpse of what made Walter Camp who he was even at an early age.

WALTER CAMP EXERCISE SCHOOL. CABINET OFFICIALS EXERCISING WITH OTHER GOVT. OFFICIALS in 1917 from photographers Harris and Ewing, in the U.S. Library of Congress digital collection.