Contact: Jim Thielman, [email protected]
The nation's first "cheerleader" was a University of Minnesota medical student named Johnny Campbell, who offered to lead "yells and songs" at the Nov. 12, 1898 football game against Northwestern.
As the story goes, the ultimate indignity surrounding the struggling 1898 football team was the campus newspaper claimed faculty and students didn't know how to cheer. A public meeting was called, during which Campbell said someone was needed to lead yells and songs to spark the team. Like anyone else who ever had an idea involving responsibility, Campbell was sadled with the task. The Gophers went on to beat Northwestern 17-6, and "cheerleaders" were born.
Cheerleaders quickly learned the vocal perils of the chore: by 1999, they were using megaphones. Standing before large crowds and shouting was, predictably, a male thing at first. Most, but not all, cheerleaders at college sporting events were male up until about 1940. As most of the able-bodied college-aged men were drafted into the Armed Forces, fmeales began taking more and more control of the megaphones. By 1959, the transformation from male to female cheerleaders was nearly complete. Today, it's a back to being a mix of male and female, performing sophisticated gymnastic-like moves that John Campbell would never have imagined.
And whatever became of Campbell? he went on to a successful career as a medical doctor, but continued to appear, cowbell in hand, at Gopher games for nearly 40 years. He led cheers from the stands to fortify the younger cheerleaders on the field until his death on Nov. 23, 1936, when he was killed in an auto accident while driving to visit a patient during a blizzard.
Wanne know more? We can help you contact university sources, including:
Bill Braddock, 81, the oldest living Gopher cheerleader. Braddock was not only a cheerleader but the former lawyer has memories of Campbell leading cheers in the stands at university football games. Braddock can be reached at (612) 434-5386, and later this October at (956) 380-2612.
Lois Roberts, who cheered for the University 50 years ago, and the oldest female cheerleader to appear at a recent celebration for alumni cheerleaders. She is available at (612) 835-1266.
Anna Seibert, an assistant cheerleading coach and former cheerleader at the University of Minnesota, is at (612) 626-9754.
Beth Knutson, who leads the University of Minnesota spirit squads, is at (612) 625-0197.
We can also provide documentation from university archives.
RSS