History of

cheerleading
KARRIGAN SOWASH

First yay rah

1884 - Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey

Mark Peebles brought cheerleading with him to the University of Minnesota
Johnny Campbell worlds first official cheerleader - November 2, 1898

A mans sport
In 1903, the University of Minnesota
created a Yell Squad composed of six
males, which in turn led to a male cheer
fraternity called Gamma Sigma.
Texas A&M joined the band wagon in 1905
when they created The Cheerleading
State
The sport remained dominated by men
until the 1920ssome famous figures like
Dwight Eisenhower and Franklin Roosevelt
were members of cheer squads in their
college days.

Just for girls

Women finally joined cheerleading in 1923

They were not yet allowed to compete in collegiate sports
Once women took over, cheerleading began to incorporate tumbling, stunting
and props like the megaphone

Grandfather of cheerleading
Lawrence Herkie Herkimer, a former
Southern Methodist University
cheerleader, formed the National
Cheerleaders Association (NCA) in 1948.
Herkimer went on to create a
cheerleading and dance uniform supply
company called Cheerleader & Danz
Team, invented a prop called the spirit
stick, and made up the jump now called
the Herkie.

A sport for all ages

In 1967, pee wee football leagues

Girls as young as five began to cheer and had the option to continue with the
sport through their college days.
Today, over 80% of public schools in the U.S. have cheerleading teams
There are over 3.4 million registered cheerleaders in the nation

The transformation
It was no longer a group of people
simply leading the crowd.
In 1976 the first official stunt, a
liberty, was created
Then in 1979 the basket toss was
invented and taught by the Universal
Cheerleaders Association (UCA)

A league of their own

All Star teams began to emerge during the 1980s

In 1987, NCA created an All Star division.
In 2004, the USASF organized the first Worlds All Star competition, solidifying
non-affiliated cheerleading as a legitimate force within the cheering community.

Making strides
Cheerleading was first televised in
1978 by the CBS network during the
Collegiate Cheerleading
Championships
in 1983, ESPN broadcast the National
High School Cheerleading Competition
nationwide
But even with this publicity,
cheerleading wasnt taken seriously by
spectators until the late 1990s when
ESPN finally declared cheerleading a
sport.

Cheerleading today

Cheerleading is now embraced by both sexes and while most cheerleaders are
still women (97%), 50% of college squad members are men.
There are television shows and movies that explore the competitive side of
cheerleading, exposing the real challenges of the sport in the process.

Celebrity cheerleaders

Cool s!@#

IUK cheerleaders

Resources
www.varsity.com
myself