American Football as we know it today was derived from a combination of the two sports rugby and soccer. A man named Walter Camp who attended Yale was the main contributor in forming the rules of Football. Before Camp, a man named Ebb Ellis is credited with taking the first step in transforming soccer into American football when he picked up the ball with his hands and started running with it. From there, camp was able to establish a line of scrimmage, create teams with 11 players each, and create rules that stated one team would keep possession of the ball into they failed to score due to their own accord.
The game slowly advanced leagues were starting to form that pitted teams against each other. On November 12, 1982 (exactly 100 years before my birthday if any one is wondering) the first man was paid $500 to play in a game. While it was not known at the time, this event marked the start of Professional Football. Other teams followed the lead and started paying players to play for their respective teams. The game was picked up by various club teams in States across the east coast and these clubs eventually formed into the national football league we see today.
Sources: http://www.profootballhof.com/history/general/birth.aspx
http://www.inventhelp.com/walter-camp-innovator-of-modern-football.asp
Exactly 100 years? Crazy! Ha! - Prof Withycombe
ReplyDeleteI think it's pretty crazy that the first football player was paid only $500 to play. I realize that was worth a lot more back then but players today are getting payed hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars a game now- Willem Bloemsma
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