Father of Football

As a sideline to his New Haven Clock Company job, in April 1886 Camp joins the staff of the sports magazine Outing, which introduces him as the “father of football in American colleges.” Among other duties, he writes a review of the 1886 season. In 1886 he also publishes through Wright and Ditson a thirty-five-page instructional booklet titled Football: How to Coach a Team. In August 1886, he becomes engaged to Alice Sumner. In March 1887, Camp is on the front page of the New York Times, arrested for attempted murder but released in a few hours in a bizarre case of misidentification. Later in 1887, Camp moves from New York to New Haven, where he effectively becomes general sales manager.