Introduction

For over one hundred years, cheerleading has been the epitome of spirit associated with major American sports. Some believe cheerleading consists of women in skimpy clothing flipping and waving pom-poms for their team, to generate audience participation. However, not many know how cheerleading originated. Cheerleading started as a man’s sport and would have continued to be male-dominated if it was not for World War II. Gender played a crucial role in the early 20th century, in all facets of society. In continuing to look at how cheerleading has evolved to what it is today, I am focusing on how the Trinity University Cheerleading team highlighted certain changes between the ‘60s and ’90s.  The TU program exemplified the changing landscape of the sport between this period by allowing a bigger presence of females, changing the layout of uniforms, and replicating the changes of society.