100 Years Ago Last Friday in Rutgers Football History

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The “Father of American Football” was in good spirits and had attended the first of several sessions of the annual Rules Committee meetings at the Hotel Pennsylvania in New York City according to the March 17, 1925 Targum. When he missed the Saturday, March 14 morning session, future Hall of Fame coach Bill Roper of Princeton went over to the Hotel Belmont to check up on him. Walter Camp, 66 years old, was found dead from heart disease in his bed. In 1926, Walter Camp Day had special games played across the country. Lafayette visited Rutgers on November 6 and the teams stood next to their bands on Neilson Field while the Star Spangled Banner was followed by a trumpeter playing Taps. Cheerleaders assigned to each stand simultaneously read Camp’s code of sportsmanship. At halftime, a collection for the Walter Camp Memorial Fund was conducted. In addition to his famous “All-American” team lists starting in 1889, Camp devised the football line-of-scrimmage, down-and distance rules, the modern quarterback, four players in the backfield, 11 men to a side, the “safety” as a scoring play, yard lines and other game innovations that began transforming the sport into the modern-day version of “American Football.”