How Was Cheerleading Invented?


In 1983, ESPN was the first to broadcast the National High School Cheerleading Competition. In the 1980s, national cheerleading competitions were held across America for middle and high school students and varsity teams. Organized cheerleading competitions began to emerge with the first Top Ten College Cheerleaders and All America Cheerleaders by the International Cheerleading Foundation (now the World Cheerleading Association or WCA) in 1967. In the 1960s, National Football League (NFL) teams began organizing professional cheerleaders.

Cheerleading in its modern incarnation was invented by a Minnesota University student, Joseph Campbell, in 1898. He did so by standing, chanting, and dancing in front of crowds at sporting events in order to generate and coordinate their excitement for their own teams.

In the 1960s, professional soccer teams began recruiting cheerleaders as part of an entertainment package for their games. In 1954, the Baltimore Colts became the first NFL team to feature cheerleaders. The Dallas Cowboys were the first organized team in the NFL.

The First Instances of Cheerleading

The first incident of cheerleading occurred during a college football match in 1869 between Princeton University and the host school of Rutgers University, located in Piscataway, New Jersey. Cheerleading was founded in 1860 in the UK, but became a very popular sport when it reached the United States in 1880, when Yale students decided to actively root for their football team during the season.

In 1898, Princeton University graduate Thomas Peebles brought the cheerleader to the University of Minnesota with the idea of ​​singing to a group of audiences. During their bad football season, he continued to organize applause and was considered the first cheerleader.

Johnny Campbell Johnny Campbell is recognized as the “Father of Cheerleaders” because he founded the university’s first true cheerleading team in 1898. According to The History of Cheerleading, cheerleaders as we know them today were created in 1898 by Jack Campbell, an undergraduate student. at the University of Minnesota.

The invention of cheerleading is credited to many Yale students who started cheering from the crowd at football games. The school loved it when the students did it, and they created a support team to cheer for every game. Although these students are credited with creating cheerleaders, the unofficial grandfather of cheerleaders is a man named Lawrence “Herckie” Herkimer.

In 1948, Lawrence “Herkie” Herkimer, a Southern Methodist University cheerleader, ran the first summer support clinic at Sam Houston State Teachers’ College (now State University) and developed his signature Herkie jump, spirit stick and pompom. , all major support products to date. Lawrence Herkimer founded the National Cheerleader Association and invented the herkie jump, and has contributed to many other pioneers in cheerleading. Lawrence Herkimer is one notable figure to be credited with jubilant popularizing stunting.

In the 1960s, college cheerleaders hired by the NCA held workshops across the country, teaching basic support skills to tens of thousands of school-age girls. Because it is a non-school cheerleading training site, the stellar programs originally served as a training ground for high school and college support programs, but soon became popular on their own.

The Importance of Cheerleaders Today

Today, cheerleaders enjoy a reputation as an important team force in virtually every high school and college campus in America. Cheerleaders attract men and women to the United States from elementary, high school, and college. Cheerleaders not only root for football and basketball, but also for various sports such as wrestling, swimming and athletics. While fans are more likely to root for football and basketball, more cheerleaders are now starting to support all of their sports teams.

Not only do college cheerleaders root for other sports at their university, but many teams at universities compete with other schools at both UCA National Colleges and NCA National Colleges. Cheerleaders can also be found on the fields of basketball matches, and some schools even have support or promotion clubs for other sports. Over the years, stunts and tricks have added to the practice of cheering for the team, and cheerleading has evolved into a competitive sport.

Cheerleading is a popular sport, ubiquitous in schools across the country, and is attended by millions of athletes in the United States alone. From early chants at Princeton University to one of the most popular national entertainment today, cheerleading has come a long way over the past decade. Important innovators in cheerleading. While many famous men and women were once cheerleaders, there are people who have contributed more to maintaining the competitive spirit than most will ever know.

Jeff Webb As founder of the Universal Supporters Association (UCA), Jeff Webb is credited with transforming school mood into competitive mood. University of Minnesota student Johnny Campbell is considered the first cheerleader to receive collective applause in 1898.

The Origin of Cheerleading

On November 2, 1898, in a football match between Princeton University and the University of Minnesota, six male cheerleaders brought joy to the audience for the first time. The first cheerleaders in the United States were organized by Princeton University alumni Thomas Peebles (Thomas Peebles), he was the “scream leader” there and a member of the cheerleaders.

A few years later, Princeton University graduate Thomas Peebles proposed the idea of ​​organized mass singing at the University of Minnesota in 1884, but it was not until 1898 that University of Minnesota student Johnny Campbell appeared in front of the crowd and led it . They made Campbell the first cheerleader in the song. In the early 1900s, after the establishment of the first cheerleading fraternity Gamma Sigma, cheerleading loudspeakers were widely used, and these cheerleaders were again made up of men.

After 1969, it was decided that the cheerleading team needed a new image, and the decision was made to exclude the male cheerleaders and select the female cheerleader from the local high school in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

The University of Minnesota cheerleaders began adding acrobatics and gymnastics to their plaudits. On the sidelines, he turned to the crowd and started the first round of applause, and thus the cheerleader was born.

Herkimer also invented the spiritual staff, one of the most important traditions in the support camp. Herkimer has developed many basic procedures and tools and also founded a uniform supply company. In 1948, Herkimer founded the National Cheerleader Association (NCA) in Dallas, and the younger but larger Universal Cheerleader Association (UCA) is headquartered in Memphis.

USA Cheer The USA Cheer Federation was founded in 2007 as the national governing body for all types of cheerleaders in the United States and is recognized by the ICU. USA Cheer exists to support a community of support, including All Star and traditional school support programs.

Final words

Cheerleading is a sporting event that uses organized activities consisting of elements of dance, gymnastics and acrobatics to support sports teams in matches and matches (hence the name cheerleading cheerleader) and / or as a competitive sport.

Cheerleaders Official Whistle Rules – Rule 23 – Cheerleaders – Never whistle a cheerleader, sometimes they are the only ones who give a good performance. which contain elements of acrobatics, dancing, jumping, cheers and acrobatic stunts to encourage spectators to support sports teams during games or to participate in competitions.

Dmitri Oz

Hello, I'm Dmitri. I grew up around carnival workers, and I created Performer Palace to generate interest in circus skills and the performing arts.

Recent Posts