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Cheerleading came about at Princeton University in the 1880s with the crowd chant, “Rah rah rah, tiger tiger tiger, sis sis sis, boom boom boom ahhhhhhh, Princeton Princeton Princeton!” as a way to encourage school spirit at football games. A few years later, Princeton graduate Thomas Peebles, introduced the idea of organized crowd chanting to the University of Minnesota in 1884. But it was not until 1898 that University of Minnesota student Johnny Campbell stood in front of the crowd, and directed them in a chant, making Campbell the very first cheerleader.

Soon after that, the University of Minnesota organized a “yell leader” squad of 4 male students. Although it is estimated that 90% of today’s cheerleading participants are female, cheerleading started out as an all-male activity. Females started to participate in cheerleading in the 1920s, due to limited availability of female collegiate sports. By the 1940s, it was a largely female activity.

Cheerleading is most closely associated with American football, and to a lesser degree basketball. Sports such as soccer (football) and wrestling occasionally, but rarely have cheerleaders. Read complete text at Wikipedia, or click on the thumbnails too see photos in real size: