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American football earned the nickname "Gridiron" because, in addition to the lines across the width of the field every five yards, as they exist now, there also used to be lines that extended the entire length of the field, which created a criss-cross pattern, which resembled a waffle gridiron, hence the name. This other set of lines existed for the purpose of governing scrimmage plays. Yale's Walter Camp (the Father of American Football) set the pair of hashmarks within the field of play, which eliminated the need for the lengthy lines.
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