Ninth International Conference on Sport & Society

Abstract

Based on primary source research, this paper traces the origins of the role of the assistant coach in intercollegiate football to two women: Alice Graham Sumner Camp and Stella Robertson Stagg (wives of Walter Chauncey Camp and Amos Alonzo Stagg, the recognized founders of organized American football) and their contribution to the further rationalization of the sport in the late 19th century. Although their stories are unique, both women served as the “eyes and ears” of their husbands whose full-time positions prevented them from overseeing the day-to-day progress of their team. As a member of the Yale nine in 1888, Amos Alonzo Stagg observed Alice Camp’s assistant coaching responsibilities first hand and, after marrying Stella Robertson, a University of Chicago co-ed and enthusiastic football fan, quickly established a working partnership with his young wife modeled after the Camps. This professional, if unpaid, collaboration between the Staggs would continue throughout his coaching career.