The game has ancient origins, but in the late 19th century, Walter Camp helped shape football—the American kind—into the sport we know today.

Who invented football? The transition from rugby-style play to the game we know today kicked into gear around 1876 thanks to a man named Walter Camp, known as the Father of American Football.

Let’s take a closer look at Walter Camp, the man who started it all. Who Is Walter Camp? Camp — born on April 7, 1859, in New Britain, Connecticut — was an intriguing man who served on various collegiate football rules committees that developed the American game from what it was to what we know it to be now.