Cheerleading is a very popular sport these days. They cheer for many different sports like football, and basketball. Many people go to the games to see the cheerleaders. They also, have cheer offs to see who's team is the best. In the following paragraphs I will tell you how it all started, what the first organization was, and how it is today. .
First, cheerleading first acme about in the 1870s; it was established by a pep club at Princeton University. They first called cheerleading the "yell". According to legend a guy named Thomas Peebler put a group of guys on the sidelines of Princeton's first football game to do the yell. Even though it had been used on the day cheerleading was invented, the 1990s found the megaphone very popular. The first homecoming game was held at the University of Illinois in 1910. Then in 1920, yell leaders started bringing noisemakers like drums and shakers to the games. As football got more and more popular, so did cheerleading. In the 1920s woman became more active in cheerleading. Minnesota cheerleaders took up gymnastics and also put some tumbling into their cheers. However in the 1930s high schools and Universities started using pom-poms in their routines. Pom-poms are still widely used. Early in the 1940s, when the men went to war not only did the women go to work, but they got to join cheerleading teams. When the men returned there were all kinds of new twists and turns added to the teams. As cheerleading progressed, it became more of a woman's sport. In 1948, Laurence "Hurkie" Hurkimer organized the first cheerleading camp in Huntsville's Sam Houston University with just 52 girls in attendance. .
The first cheerleading organization, the National Cheerleading Association, was founded and Hurkimer created spirit slogans, ribbons, and buttons to raise spirit and money. Hurkimer was also the founder of the spirit industry. In the 1950s, cheerleaders came up with workshops to teach cheerleading skills.
