Editing College football (section)

====Walter Camp: Father of American football====
{{Main|Walter Camp}}
[[File:Walter Camp - Project Gutenberg eText 18048.jpg|thumb|[[Walter Camp]], the "Father of American Football", then the captain of the [[Yale Bulldogs football|Yale University football team]], in 1878]]
[[Walter Camp]] is widely considered to be the most important figure in the development of American football.<ref name="histfoot"/><ref name="NFL1869"/><ref name=PFRA2/> As a youth, he excelled in sports like [[Track and field athletics|track]], baseball, and association football, and after enrolling at [[Yale]] in 1876, he earned varsity honors in every sport the school offered.<ref name=PFRA2/>

Following the introduction of rugby-style rules to American football, Camp became a fixture at the Massasoit House conventions where rules were debated and changed. Dissatisfied with what seemed to him to be a disorganized mob, he proposed his first rule change at the first meeting he attended in 1878: a reduction from fifteen players to eleven. The motion was rejected at that time but passed in 1880. The effect was to open up the game and emphasize speed over strength. Camp's most famous change, the establishment of the [[line of scrimmage]] and the [[Snap (football)|snap]] from [[center (American football)|center]] to [[quarterback]], was also passed in 1880. Originally, the snap was executed with the foot of the center. Later changes made it possible to snap the ball with the hands, either through the air or by a direct hand-to-hand pass.<ref name=PFRA2/> [[Rugby league]] followed Camp's example, and in 1906 introduced the [[play-the-ball]] rule, which greatly resembled Camp's early scrimmage and center-snap rules. In 1966, rugby league introduced a four-tackle rule (changed in 1972 to a six-tackle rule) based on Camp's early down-and-distance rules.

Camp's new scrimmage rules revolutionized the game, though not always as intended. Princeton, in particular, used scrimmage play to slow the game, making incremental progress towards the end zone during each [[Down (gridiron football)|down]]. Rather than increase scoring, which had been Camp's original intent, the rule was exploited to maintain control of the ball for the entire game, resulting in slow, unexciting contests. At the 1882 rules meeting, Camp proposed that a team be required to advance the ball a minimum of five yards within three downs. These down-and-distance rules, combined with the establishment of the line of scrimmage, transformed the game from a variation of rugby football into the distinct sport of American football.<ref name=PFRA2/>

Camp was central to several more significant rule changes that came to define American football. In 1881, the field was reduced in size to its modern dimensions of 120 by 53{{fraction|1|3}} yards (109.7 by 48.8 meters). Several times in 1883, Camp tinkered with the scoring rules, finally arriving at four points for a touchdown, two points for [[Extra point|kicks after touchdowns]], two points for safeties, and five for [[Field goal (football)|field goals]]. Camp's innovations in the area of point scoring influenced rugby union's move to point scoring in 1890.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}} In 1887, game time was set at two-halves of 45 minutes each. Also in 1887, two paid officials—a [[Referee (American football)|referee]] and an [[Official (American football)#Umpire|umpire]]—were mandated for each game. A year later, the rules were changed to allow tackling below the waist, and in 1889, the officials were given whistles and stopwatches.<ref name=PFRA2/>

After leaving Yale in 1882, Camp was employed by the New Haven Clock Company until his death in 1925. Though no longer a player, he remained a fixture at annual rules meetings for most of his life, and he personally selected an annual [[All-America|All-American team]] every year from 1889 through 1924. The [[Walter Camp Football Foundation]] continues to select All-American teams in his honor.<ref name=camp>{{cite web|title=The History of Walter Camp |publisher=The Walter Camp Foundation |url=http://waltercamp.org/index.php/info/ |access-date=January 16, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071218214118/http://waltercamp.org/index.php/info/ |archive-date=December 18, 2007}}</ref>
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