Walter Camp Field is located next to the Yale Bowl. Here's some stuff on Walter Camp. Jim Thorpe is mentioned here. He helped give the NFL credibility.The field where Walter Camp played rugby against Harvard, and then started developing american college football wiht concepts of a static line of scrimmage and down and distance.....is still maintained in New Haven. Put up some stuff on teh origins of the NCAA, and Walter Camp, and college football in CT.
in 1904, I think ...the year before the formation of the NCAA, I believe there were somethign like 20-25 deaths in college football played in the mid-west and south, becuase they weren't using the rules properly.
http://waltercamp.org/index.php/info/
Says there that Walter Camp helped establish the NCAA.