It all began at a Princeton University football game. The history of cheerleading gets its start far back in the late 1880's when the first organized, recorded yell was performed on an American Campus: "Ray, Ray' Ray! TIGER, TIGER, SIS, SIS, SIS! BOOM, BOOM, BOOM! Aaaaah! PRINCETON, PRINCETON, PRINCETON!" Done in locomotive style, was the first seen and heard during a college football game. Even before the yell, the first pep club was established in the 1870s at the same Princeton University. Thomas Peebler gathered 6 men who led that yell on the sidelines in front of the student body.

    In 1884, Thomas Peebles, a graduate of Princeton University, took that yell, and the sport of [American] Football (actually derived from Rugby), to the University of Minnesota. On November 2, 1898, a cheerleader by the name of Johnny Campbell got so excited that he jumped out in front of the crowd. It was from that campus that organized cheerleading came into being.

    Cheerleading, as we know it today, was initiated in 1898 by Johnny Campbell, an undergraduate at the University of Minnesota, who stood before the crowd at a football game and directed them in a famous and still used yell. "Rah, Rah, Rah! Sku-u-mar, Hoo-Rah! Hoo-Rah! Varsity! Varsity! Varsity, Minn-e-So-Tah!" It was from there that in the 1890s, the first school "fight song" at the University of Minnesota.

    Johnny Campbell's innovation of cheerleading was documented in the following story that appeared in the November 12, 1898, edition of a Minnesota student publication "Ariel": "The following were nominated to lead the Yelling today: Jack (sic) Campbell, F.G. Kotlaba, M.J. Luby, Albert Armstrong of the Academics; Wickersham of the Laws; and Litzenverg of the Medics. These men would see to it that everybody leaves the park today breathless and voiceless, as this is the last game here, it ought to be a revelation to the people of Minnesota in regard to University enthusiasm.". And so cheerleading officially began on November 2, 1898.

    The 1900s introduced popular usage of the megaphone, which had been in use on the day cheerleading began in 1898. The first cheerleader fraternity, Gamma Sigma, was also organized in the 1900s. The first "homecoming" was held at the University of Illinois in 1910.

    In the fall of 1919, some of America's greatest universities were just then becoming "great." For some reason, in those days, greatness was whether or not your university had a big, big football stadium. A stadium could accommodate large crowds, and large crowds helped to build good football teams, and the better your football team the more attention you could attract to your school. Attention was the name of the game, and if you could attract it, then your university could build itself into an important educational institution as well as being good at sports.

    It was a "do or die" situation for the University of Kansas. For years their football team the "Jayhawks" had been playing in rickety old McCook Stadium, which had seats for only 2,000 people. Very few of the "big football teams" would come and play at Kansas because the crowds were so small.

    On a cold autumn afternoon, a great story of cheer leadership was about to unfold. And it took a great cheerleader to engineer what was about to be a massive job. His name was Shirley Windsor (that's right, and his squad numbered only three individuals.)

    Kansas had been invited to Lincoln, Nebraska, to play the nationally ranked University of Nebraska Cornhuskers. An awesome task for any football team, and especially so for the Jayhawks because the Cornhuskers outweighed the KU team by nearly twenty pounds per man. Head Coach Forrest Allen took his team to Nebraska and on a cold wet playing field, they played hard. In fact, they fought so well that the game's final score ended in a surprising tie 20-20. And KU might even have won the game if a touchdown in the final minute of play had not been called back by the Referee. The Jayhawks came back to Kansas on a tide of enthusiasm that had never before happened to them. They were greeted by thousands of cheering students as their train pulled into the depot.

    Realizing what the situation could mean, Shirley Windsor called various influential former KU students on the phone. He was asking for money to build a big stadium. After calls to Wichita, Topeka, Kansas City.... Shirley had been turned down cold. There was only one thing left to do. Rushing up the steps of the KU administration building two at a time, Shirley asked to see the Chancellor of the university. He said "Sir, if you would give your permission to stop all classes for one hour tomorrow morning, I think we could have the greatest pep rally this school has ever seen." The Chancellor gave his okay to the idea, and the next morning Shirley and his two fellow cheerleaders watched as the 4,000 students filed into Robinson Gymnasium.

    "Our team has given us a great victory" explained Shirley. "Now is the time to build KU's first giant stadium so we can begin a football tradition in Kansas. But our alumni in cities around Kansas have turned us down. Will you help?"

    After thirty minutes of rousing cheers and ceaseless noise, the 4,000 students pledged sixty Dollars per person of their own money (that was truly a lot in those days), and nearly a quarter of a million Dollars was raised in one short hour!

    Two years later, on another cold wet afternoon, KU played Nebraska again. This time in the brand-new Memorial Stadium - 30,000 seats! And one of America's great college sports traditions was born.

    Other great traditions in the art of cheerleading have developed over the years. In 1920, yell leaders brought in drums and noisemakers. As football became more popular, so did cheerleading. Women became active in cheerleading in the 1920s. The University of Minnesota cheerleaders began to incorporate gymnastics and tumbling into their cheers and the first flash-card cheering section was directed by Lindley Bothwell at Oregon State University.

    Then, in the 1930s, universities and high schools began performing pom-pon routines and using paper poms.

    In the early 1940's, when men went to war, women not only went to work, but also on to cheerleading squads. Cheerleading then became more as a female sport. Women were revitalizing the spirit when it was needed. When the men returned from war, new twists and turns were added. Gymnastics were always done by men, while the girls danced. This gave rise to dance teams.

    In 1948, Laurence "Hurkie" Hurkimer (founder of the spirit industry) decided to organize the first cheerleader camp at Huntsville's Sam Houston University. Only 52 girls attended. The first cheerleading organization, National Cheerleading Association (NCA), was founded. He created spirit slogans, ribbons, and buttons to raise spirit and money.

    In the 1950s, college cheerleaders began conducting cheerleading workshops to teach fundamental cheerleading skills. The 1960's gave cheerleaders poms. The most widely recognized prop today. Paper poms were introduced in the 1930's and the modern vinyl pom was invented by Fred Gastoff, around 1965, and introduced by the International Cheerleading Foundation (now W.C.A.). The "Bruin High Step" style of pompon routine was developed by UCLA cheerleaders and the International Cheerleading Foundation.

    1967 marked the first annual ranking of the "Top Ten College Cheer Squads" and the initiation of the "Cheerleader All America" awards by the International Cheerleading Foundation. The Baltimore Colts organized the first professional cheerleading squad in history. Up until then, high school squads were used on the sidelines to promote spirit. Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders created a pure pompon "Broadway-style" dance entertainment for the crowds.

    As the 1970s rolled in, cheerleading was building up an unstoppable momentum. In addition to cheering for the traditional football and basketball teams, cheerleaders began supporting all school sports, sometimes selecting several different squads to cheer for wrestling, track and swimming. The first nation-wide television broadcast of the Collegiate Cheerleading Championships on CBS-TV in the Spring of 1978, initiated by the International Cheerleading Foundation. In 1976, the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders performed at Super Bowl X and started an evolution of "dancing cheerleaders." In the 1970's, high school and collegiate cheerleading competitions began.

    In 1980, universal standards were set and safety guidelines outlawed many dangerous tumbling moves and pyramids. National cheerleading competitions for junior and senior high school as well as collegiate squads took place across America. The I.C.F. Training Course for faculty cheerleading 'sponsors' and coaches was offered across the United States.

    Cheerleading began to receive recognition as a serious athletic activity as the skills level dramatically increased in areas such as gymnastics, partner stunts, pyramids, and advanced jumps. Many high school cheerleading squads began to cheer for female sports (basketball, volleyball) in addition to male sports.

    Training for cheerleading coaches was offered at summer cheerleading camps. Several colleges offered scholarships, college credits, and a four year letter program. Cheerleaders increased their involvement in community service projects. Cheerleaders received national media recognition as one of the most important school leadership groups to promote enthusiastic, positive attitudes and school spirit within schools and the community.

    Cheerleading has come a long way in ten decades. The importance of cheerleading has also come a long way and was first acknowledged by Willis Bugbee in 1927, when he wrote:

    "The cheerleader, where once was merely tolerated, is now a person of real estate. His prestige is such that at many schools and colleges he must win his place in competitive examination."

    And it is true today, that a person must be highly skilled and competitive in order to achieve the honored and respected position of cheerleader. This cherished position has, throughout the years, been held by some truly famous talented people. The list includes former US President Dwight D. Eisenhower, actors Jimmy Stewart and Kirk Douglas, actresses Meryl Streep, Raquel Welch, and Cybil Shepard, just to name a few.

    Whether you are a cheerleader, a yell leader, a song leader or a spirit leader (variations on the term "cheerleader"), or whether you are on an all female, an all male, or a combination male/female squad, you are striving towards one goal. That goal is to effectively lead a crowd in support of an athletic team and to generate spirit and pride within a school or community.

    Today cheerleading enjoys a reputation of being an important leadership force on practically every high school and college campus in America. All of this is because of a man in Minnesota who couldn't stand sitting in the bleachers. He had to be in front of them! Thank you Johnny Campbell!!