Yale Bulletin and Calendar

February 14, 2003|Volume 31, Number 18

Pictured at the official unveiling of the stamp honoring Walter Camp, "the father of football," are (from left) Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro; John Walsh, vice chair of the U.S. Postal Service board of governors; Bill O'Brien, past president of the Walter Camp Foundation; Yale Athletic Director Thomas Beckett; and Ken Dagliere, staff member in the office of U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman.

Stamp honors legendary Yale football coach

A U.S. postage stamp honoring Walter Camp, Yale's legendary football coach, was unveiled on Feb. 7 at the Omni Hotel at Yale.

Walter Camp (1859-1925), a New Haven native who is known as the "father of modern American football" for his shaping of the rules that transformed rugby into the familiar modern game, was one of four football icons pictured in a group of commemorative stamps titled "Early Football Heroes." The other gridiron stars are Ernie Nevers (1903-1976), Red Grange (1903-1991) and Bronko Nagurski (1908-1990).

Speaking to the over 150 individuals on hand for the unveiling, Yale Athletic Director Thomas A. Beckett said Camp epitomized the highest standards in sports.

"Walter Camp gave us a game and the opportunity to showcase these brilliant young people that are the role models for youth in our towns and states," said Beckett. "Yale University applauds the Walter Camp Foundation and the U.S. Postal Service for recognizing the contributions of this extraordinary man. He started something

over a century ago that the volunteers of this organization continue to promote. It's something very special and as a University, we are enormously proud to be associated with you."

The effort to memorialize Camp began more than 15 years ago, when several New Haven residents -- including Bill O'Brien, a past president of the Camp Foundation and a vice president of New Haven Savings Bank -- approached then-Congressman Bruce Morrison about issuing a postage stamp. Eventually Branford native John Walsh, vice chair of the U.S. Postal Service board of governors, took an interest in the cause and guided the application process through to completion.

Camp, who was a player and then a coach at Yale, codified football's rules and regulations, founded the National Collegiate Athletic Association and was a renowned writer. He is buried in the Grove Street Cemetery, where the foundation installed a memorial stone in his honor several years ago under O'Brien's direction.

The U.S. Postal Service will issue the "Early Football Heroes" stamp pane in August of this year to commemorate the four great figures from the early days of football. All four players are enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame. Nevers, Nagurski and Grange are also enshrined in the Professional Football Hall of Fame.

The photographs that appear on these stamps have been colorized for the stamp art. The photograph of Camp, from the Yale archives collection, was taken at the Yale fence in 1880 when he was a 21-year-old senior. The 1926 photograph of Nevers is a part of the collection of Stanford University. Taken in 1933, the photograph of Nagurski in his Chicago Bears uniform is thought to be a Bears publicity shot. The photograph of Grange in a practice uniform was taken in 1925 while he was a player at the University of Illinois.

-- By Thomas R. Violante

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