amp in his football playing days," says Vernon, "was built
physically on field running lines; quick on his legs and with his arms.
His action was easy all over and seemed to be in thorough control from a
well-balanced head, from which looked a pair of exceptionally keen,
piercing, expressive brown eyes.

"Camp was always alert, and seemed to sense developments before they
occurred. One of my chief recollections of Camp's play was his great
confidence with the ball. In his room, on the campus, in the gym',
wherever he was, if possible, he would have a football with him. He
seemed to know every inch of its surface, and it seemed almost as if the
ball knew him. It would stick to his palm, like iron to a magnet.

"In one of his plays, Camp would run down the side of the field, the
ball held far out with one arm, while the other arm was performing
yeoman service in warding off the oncoming tacklers. Frequently he would
pass the ball from one hand to the other, while still running, depending
upon which arm he saw he would need for defense. Smilingly and
confidently, Camp would run the gauntlet of opposing players for many
consecutive gains. I do not recall one instance in which he lost the
ball through these tactics.

"It was a pretty game to play and a pretty game to look at. Would that
the rules could be so worded as to make the football of Camp's time the
football of to-day!

"Walter Camp's natural ability as a football player was recognized as
soon as he entered Yale in 1876. He made the 'varsity at once and played
halfback. It was in the first Harvard football game at Hamilton Park
that the Harvard captain, who was a huge man with a full, bushy beard,
saw Walter Camp, then a stripling freshman in uniform, and remarked to
the Yale Captain:

"'You don't mean to let that child play; he is too light; he will get
hurt.'

"Walter made a mental note of that remark, and during the game the
Harvard captain had occasion to remember it also, when in one of the
plays Camp tackled him, and the two went to the ground with a heavy
thud. As the Harvard captain gradually came to, he remarked to one of
his team mates:

"'Well, that little fellow nearly put me out!'

"Camp's brilliant playing earned him the captaincy of the team in 1878
and 1879. He had full command of his men and was extremely popular with
them, but this did not prevent his being a stickler for discipline.

"In my day on the Yale team with Camp," Vernon states,