First off, the football we play today is in a more proper term called "gridiron football" which is named this for the vertical lines that mark the field. Football is closely related to two English sports: soccer and rugby.  Football first started out in universities in North America in the late 19th century. Mostly elite colleges took up the sport in the 1870's but Harvard maintained its distance playing a rugby-soccer hybrid called “The Boston Game” until May of 1874. Who’s the man responsible for the rugby-like game related to the football we know today?

Walter Camp AKA the “Father of American Football," was a Yale Undergraduate and Medical student from 1876 to 1881. He played Halfback and served as team captain. This is equivalent to head coach at the time. One of the most important things was that he was the pushing force on the rule board of the newly formed Intercollegiate Football Association (IFA).

Thanks to Walter the IFA made key innovations to the game. It did away with the opening scrimmage and introduced the rule that a team give up the ball after failing to move down the field a specified yardage in a certain number of “downs.” Camp also introduced the 11-man team, the quarterback position, the line of scrimmage, offensive signal-calling and the scoring scale used in football today. Among this he also coached the Yale team from 1888 to 1892 with a 67-2 record! While doing this he maintained his work as an executive at a watch-manufacturing firm. So next time you watch or play football thank Walter Camp for the great American game!

http://www.history.com/news/ask-history/who-invented-football