Meet the American who shaped modern football: Walter Camp, pigskin pioneer

Walter Camp, a native of Connecticut, invented this hugely popular game.

Baseball may be America’s pastime, but football is its passion. 

One man, Walter Camp, did more than any other American to shape the nation’s love affair with the sport today. 

"What Washington was to his country, Camp was to American football, the friend, the founder and the father," John Heisman, the late longtime coach and namesake of the iconic college football trophy, once said.

Most notably, Camp’s vision turned a primitive — and often deadly — college activity into a uniquely American sporting spectacle with passionate devotees at the high school, college and professional levels. 

MEET THE AMERICAN WHO CREATED THE NATION'S FIRST SPORTS BAR IN ST. LOUIS: WORLD WAR II VETERAN JIMMY PALERMO

Thirty-seven men were killed on college football fields in the 1904 and 1905 seasons. The national outcry over the brutality forged a partnership between President Theodore Roosevelt and Walter Camp that made football less brutal and more popular than ever.

Camp (1859-1925) was a Connecticut native and star player at Yale from 1876 to 1881 during American football’s infancy. 

Walter Camp starred for Yale University from 1876 to 1881 in the early days of American football. He was later dubbed the "father of football" for his contributions to the game as a coach, administrator and author.  (Courtesy Yale Athletics)

He became the university’s football coach from 1888 to 1892 while carving out a legacy in just a few short years — a legacy that shapes the game today. 

Camp’s 1888 Yale team went 13-0 and outscored its opponents 694-0. By many accounts, it was the single most dominant team in more than 150 years of college football history. 

"What Washington was to