The sport of Cheerleading was founded in the 1880s by Thomas Peebles during an intercollegiate football game between Princeton and the University of Minnesota. Peebles began this new pep team which consisted of only men. The pep team created fight songs and school mottos referring to the specific schools they played against. Cheer captains came about in the late 1890s. The team would have a "lead yeller" a.k.a the person who led the cheer or fight song. Johnny Campbell, the lead yeller at the University of Minnesota, was the first person known to use a megaphone in order to get the crowd to say the cheer along with the team.
It wasn't until the 1920s that women joined cheerleading at the University of Minnesota. This changed a lot for the cheer world. Tumbling and stunts became important aspects of this sport. Cheerleading began to rise in popularity during that time.
In 1948, Lawerance Herkimer created the "herkie" jump, the pom pom, and the spirit stick. In 1961, Herkimer created the National Cheerleaders Association or NCA. Every year hundreds of thousands of cheerleaders from Jr High to Collegiate cheerleading teams compete in NCA competitions around the country. Thanks to Lawerance Herkimer, plenty of people have the opportunity to display their skills, effort, and show that their long practices pay off.