At a recent practice, I had an athlete
randomly walk up to me and say:

“Did you know that the first cheerleaders were all boys?”

Partly because the athlete caught
me off guard with this out of the blue trivia item and partly because this seemed a bit counterintuitive to me, I decided to do some research.

While the involvement of boys in cheerleading
has always been something that those involved with the sport are aware of, the sport in general is overwhelmingly dominated by girls in terms of numbers of participants and I was curious to see if what the athlete said was true.

After looking into it, the athlete was
100% correct, cheerleading
was
originally begun with boys.

When cheerleading first began in the
late 1800s, it was an all-male activity. The sport has obviously changed a lot over time, but its roots are in male leadership and school spirit.

Cheerleading started in the United
States at college football games. In 1898, a University of Minnesota student named Johnny Campbell became the first official cheerleader. He led a chant to support his football team, and this started the tradition of organized cheering. At that time, cheerleaders
were all men, and their job was to excite the crowd, keep up school spirit, and encourage their team.

During the early 1900s, cheerleading
remained a male-dominated activity. Many famous men, including U.S. presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Ronald Reagan, were cheerleaders in college. Cheerleading required leadership skills, confidence, and energy—qualities often associated
with men at the time. It was seen as an honorable and respected role.

Things began to change in the 1920s
and 1930s when women slowly started to participate in cheerleading. However, it wasn’t until World War II that female cheerleaders became the majority. During the war, many young men went off to fight, leaving schools and sports teams without male cheerleaders.
Women stepped in to fill the gap, and by the 1950s, they had become the face of cheerleading.

Over time, cheerleading evolved from simple chants into a more athletic activity. In the 1960s and 1970s, cheerleaders began incorporating gymnastics, stunts, and jumps into their routines. This required strength, flexibility, and teamwork. Although cheerleading was still seen as a female-dominated sport, male cheerleaders certainly still remained, especially in college cheerleading programs. Today, men continue to be an important part of the sport, particularly at the college and professional levels.

Nowadays, cheerleading is recognized
as a highly competitive and physically demanding sport. There are two main types: sideline cheerleading, which focuses on supporting teams, and competitive cheerleading, where teams perform routines and are judged on their skills. Both men and women participate,
and co-ed teams are common in colleges and professional cheer squads.

Even though cheerleading is now mostly
associated with girls, it certainly did actually start with boys. From its early days as a male-led activity to its modern form as a high-energy, co-ed sport, cheerleading has gone through many changes!