210308 March 8, 2021

 Two Bits, Four Bits, Six Bits, a Dollar!

Tommy Towery

LHS '64

    This past weekend I attended the High School National Cheerleading competition being held in Ft. Worth, Texas. Sue’s oldest daughter’s two high school kids were cheering for their school in Waukee, Iowa so we went to cheer for them. If you have not seen any high school cheerleaders do their routines since you left high school you would be amazed.

    For the past few issues I have been comparing technology from our high school days to the technology we have available these days. For fun I thought I might do just a little bit of comparing the cheerleaders of our high school days with the ones from today.

1964 Cheerleaders

    First of all, I am not in any way trying to put down or make fun of our Lee High School cheerleaders. They were some of the nicest girls I went to school with. Even with their high social status as a “Cheerleader” they still made friends with the likes of me, the nerd High School paper editor. Some of the nicest girls I knew back then were our cheerleaders and I became lifetime friends with many of them. I never really dated any of them, but I spent many nights at Bradley’s and the Armory dancing with them until the bands packed up. I also attended many parties at their houses along with another group of non-jock and our best school athletes.

1965 Cheerleaders

    Let me make it clear this is just a little ditty to compare the cheerleader uniforms and routines of our time and today. In honest, I do not know any of today’s Lee cheerleaders.

    The most obvious difference would have to be the outfits. In 1964 our girls (and that was all we had – no guys) worn long heavy skirts that almost came down below their knees. They also wore bulky sweaters which did not flatter a girl’s figure in any way. As 1965 and 1966 came along the skirts came shorter and shorter, but in no way do they approach the skimpiness of today’s costumes.

1966 Cheerleaders

    As for the routines, I remember some jumps and some cartwheels, but cannot remember ever seeing any of our cheerleaders perform the gymnastic routines done by today’s groups; nor did they ever rely on the signs, flags and props used today. But do you know one thing I do remember? They were there to lead us in cheers. They were cheers we knew and probably still remember today. Their job was to get us to cheer, not put on a choreographed show on the field. They screamed commands and questions at us, and we replied with words and phrases we knew better than the English poems we were studying. They were really cheer leaders, and we loved working with them in the middle of a game.

    Here is a copy of the current Lee High School Cheerleaders I copied from their web site.

2021 Cheerleaders

    This is short I know, but anything I add would only give me extra points in remembering the cheerleaders we held so dear in our hearts. Unfortunately, when we look at the photos of the teams of our times, you will be saddened by the number of great girls we have lost over the years. Remember them with a fond smile and loving heart – they were the spirit of our school days.

       Below is a youtube video of the types of cheer squads I saw compete this weekend. This was from last year's competition but it shows what I am talking about.