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In the United States, a form of football using a blown-up bladder was played in the colony of Virginia in 1609. In 1820 students at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) participated in a soccerlike game, called ballown, in which they advanced the ball by punching it with their fists. Intercollegiate competition began on November 6, 1869, with a game between Rutgers and Princeton. The game, however, resembled soccer more than modern-day American football. Columbia, Cornell, and other eastern U.S. colleges soon after sent representative teams into intercollegiate competition. Harvard, preferring to use its own rules, abstained from this competition. In 1874 Harvard met McGill University of Montréal, Canada, in a match played under the rugbylike rules of the Canadians. The Harvard players, impressed, altered their own rules accordingly. Harvard and Yale played a football game for the first time on November 13, 1875, using Harvard's rules.
The following year, representatives of Harvard, Yale, and Columbia answered an invitation from Princeton football representatives to attend a parley at Springfield, Massachusetts. The result of the convention included a new set of football rules and the formation of the Intercollegiate Football Association. Although the rugbylike rules of Harvard again prevailed, certain soccer rules were incorporated. The resulting combination of rugby and soccer became popular, and as time went on the rules were constantly changed until a new game evolved. The Intercollegiate Football Association was dissolved in 1894, and in the same year a rules committee, dominated by the Yale graduate and football pioneer Walter Chauncey Camp, was formed by the influential eastern schools. In 1905 an independent association of colleges also formed a rules committee; the two committees soon merged, and since that time American collegiate football has been governed by them. The first professional football game in the United States was played in 1895.
More than 1 million high school athletes play football in the United States. The majority of these athletes are boys; however, some girls also participate in the sport. The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), located in Indianapolis, Indiana, governs high school football. The NFHS does not crown a national champion. Instead, high school teams compete to win their state championship, with each state having its own guidelines for determining titles. Most states have several state champions, each in a category determined by school size. The most talented high school players may receive scholarships to attend and play football in college.
Football is one of the most popular college sports in the United States. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), located in Indianapolis, is the most important organization governing major college competition. The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), located in Tulsa, Oklahoma, oversees competition for smaller four-year schools. The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), located in Colorado Springs, Colorado, governs play for two-year and community colleges throughout the country. Under the jurisdiction of these national governing bodies are individual conferences and leagues based on school size and regional location. Well-known NCAA conferences include the Atlantic Coast, the Big Ten (northern Midwest), the Big 12 (Midwest), the Pacific-10 (Western states), the Southeastern Conference, and the Ivy League (Northeast). Many university stadiums hold more than 50,000 spectators; a few hold more than 100,000.
Some of the most accomplished players in college football history include Jim Thorpe of the Carlisle Indian School; George Gipp of the University of Notre Dame; Red Grange of the University of Illinois; Tom Harmon of the University of Michigan; Doak Walker of Southern Methodist University; Glenn Davis and Doc Blanchard, the so-called Touchdown Twins of Army (the U.S. Military Academy); Joe Namath of the University of Alabama; Walter Payton of Jackson State University; Tony Dorsett of the University of Pittsburgh; Joe Montana of the University of Notre Dame; Marcus Allen of the University of Southern California; Jerry Rice of Mississippi Valley State University; and Bo Jackson of Auburn University.