The Beginnings of Football
Walter Camp and an early Yale football team.
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Wilbur's
early ambitions of attending Yale may have had something to do with his
new-found interest in football. Football was a brand new sport in the 1880s , a
marriage of soccer and rugby. Walter Camp, the coach at Yale, had written
the first rulebook that defined this American pastime and in 1883 he had
fielded a football team that would remain undefeated for nine years. He
lectured tirelessly on the virtues of the sport, extolling its value in
building character. Wilbur Wright, who was then an accomplished athlete,
had certainly heard of Walter Camp and may have dreamed of attending Yale
and playing with this legendary team.
Walter Camp, Yale, and the Beginnings of Football |