Cheer+History

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Cheerleading first started when the first intercollegiate game was played in 1869, between Princeton University and Rutgers University in New Jersey. By the 1880s, Princeton had formed an all-male pep club. Thomas Peebles, a graduate of Princeton, took cheers to the University of Minnesota, where football and fight songs were becoming very popular. In 1898, Minnesota was on a losing streak, and a medical student named Johnny Campbell assembled a group to energize the team and the crowd. Johnny picked up a megaphone and rallied the team to victory with the first organized cheer: “Rah, Rah, Rah! Ski-U-Mah! Hoo-Rah! Hoo-Rah! Varsity! Varsity!

Minn-e-so-tah! Cheerleading then continued to grow. Women were allowed to cheer for the first time until 1923, at the University of Minnesota. During this time, cheerleaders added tumbling and acrobatics to their routines, and a University of Oregon cheerleader used flashcards for the first time. Even though women were joining teams in the ‘20s, it wasn’t until the ‘40s that they joined in large numbers, since so many college-aged men went off to fight in World War II. Then in 1964 Lawrence Herkimer held the first cheerleading clinic in Sam Houston State Teachers University. He created the signature jump the Herkie and went on to develop the spirit stick and the pom pon. In 1961, he incorporated the National Cheerleaders Association (NCA).

By the 1960s, cheerleading could be found in almost every high school and grade school throughout the country, and pee wee and youth leagues had created squads as well. In 1974, Jeff Webb a manager of NCA founded Universal Cheerleaders Association (UCA), which taught higher level skills. The ‘80s decade brought the launch of many more event companies, as well as AACCA (American Association of Cheerleading Coaches and Administrators). In 1987, the first association devoted to teaching safety to coaches and advisors. UCA has grown into Varsity Spirit Corp., today, encompassing 17 cheerleading event, apparel and service companies.