Cheerleading
1800's
1883- Students begin cheering for their favorite athletes
at sporting events in Great Britain.
1870- Princeton University established the first pep club.
1880- Princeton University organized the first yell group.
1889- Johnny Campbell at the University of Minnesota was
the first cheerleader. He used a megaphone at the last game of the season
and the Ariel Newspaper
reported him as the first “Yell Leader at the University of Minnesota”
1890- University of Minnesota organized a cheerleading group.
1900's
1903- The first cheerleading fraternity was organized,
Gamma Sigma.
1910- University of Illinois put on the first homecoming.
1923- Women started to become involved in cheerleading.
The University of Minnesota cheerleaders started to put tumbling/gymnastics
into their cheers.
1925- Lindley Bothwell at Oregon State makes the first
flash cards to force the crowd to become involved.
1930- Many high schools and universities started to perform
pom-pom routines which were paper at the time.
1948- Lawrence R. Herkimer formed the first cheerleading
company. He created the organization NCA (National Cheerleaders Association)
as a way to host cheerleading clinics. In 1949 there were a total of fifty-two
girls attending the clinic. By the following year, the number had rose
to 350.
1950- Many college cheerleaders started doing cheerleading
workshops to teach younger girls cheerleading skills.
1960- Cheerleading was a well-known American high school and collegiate sport.
1960- Fred Gastoff invented the vinyl pom-pom.
1960's- National Football Teams began to organize cheerleading teams.
The Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders were the first team recognized.
1967- The first ranking of the “Top Ten College
Cheer Squads” was
announced by the International Cheerleading Foundation.
1970- The Collegiate Cheerleading Championships were broadcasted on CBS-TV in 1978. The program was sponsored by the International Cheerleading Foundation.
1978- The first Collegiate Cheerleading Championships were broadcasted on televison by CBS.
1980's- Gymnastics was becoming a big part of the sport and cheerleading organizations began to add safety rules and guidelines.
1984- The organization Cheer Ltd. held the first meeting for coaches to lean about hands-on work and cheerleading techniques.
1987- AACCA was recognized as a National Certified Organization that conducted safety courses.
1990- All- Star Competitive Cheerleading was developed.
2000's
2002- William Paterson University placed first at the College National Championships- Small Coed Division.
2002- Palomar College placed first at the College National Championships- Coed Junior College Division.
2002- Fairmont State College won first at the College National Championships- All Girl Division II.
2004- It is estimated to believe that there are about 4 million participants in cheerleading within the nation.
2004- At the USASF World Cheerleading Championships, Cheer Athletics from Dallas, TX won the Senior All Girl Division and Miami Elite won the Senior Coed.
2005- A fourteen year old girl lost her life while performing an elite stunt at practice.
2006- NCAA established a policy that all cheerleading coaches must be safety certified by AACCA.
2006- At the USASF World Cheerleading Championships, in the International All-Girl division team Georgia took the gold, GuangXi from GuangXi, China took the silver and Jaguars All-Stars from Bogota, Columbia won bronze.
2006- Cheer Athletics set a world record in winning a total of six medals. They currently have four gold, and two silver World Titles.