Alice Sumner Camp: The Woman Behind the Man

The calling card of Mrs. Walter Camp

 

Alice Camp

We recently came across some signed material that emanated from Walter Camp. Interestingly, the associated signature on some of these items were not in the hand of the "father of football;" they were signed by another individual (or multiple individuals) signing on Mr. Camp's behalf. It makes sense that Walter Camp sent out secretarially signed items to fans; he was a well-known personality of his day and likely did not want to spend great amounts of time making out autographs.

One theory on the identity of the individual behind the secretarial Camp signatures that Jacob and I came up with was that Mr. Camp had his wife sign these items. And, having a few Alice Camp signatures in our collection, we thought we'd share a few examples of her handwriting here on Football of Yore - in case any secretarially signed examples can indeed be attributed to Alice.

Alice Camp was a football legend of sorts and spent countless hours with her husband on and off the field, thoroughly invested in the game and the players. She was referred to as "Mrs. Walter" by the Yale players who were often guests at her home. She was recognized for her significant contributions and was even listed as a co-coach on the 25th reunion dinner program of the 1888 Yale Football team. There is an abundance of information on Mrs. Camp should one decide to delve a little deeper.

The first example of her handwriting is on her calling card, and the other is a short note to James Cowan, complete with her full signature, Alice Sumner Camp, inviting Sawyer for tea and to meet with a "Mrs. Bates."

Both examples we are posting emanated from the collection of James Cowan Sawyer, the son of a former governor of New Hampshire. Sawyer attended Phillips Academy in Andover where he was the manager of the football team in 1889. Sawyer later attended Yale, where he was the manager of the freshman football team, assistant manager of the University Football Association, and held many other positions with various clubs and associations.