La Salle College High School Football: In Retrospect

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1 La Salle College High School Football: In Retrospect NOTE: This is the thirty-fifth of, I hope, many retrospectives highlighting some unique history of the football program at La Salle. The topics to discuss seem endless at this time. Hope you enjoy these. Bill Wasylenko, 69 Issue Number Thirty-Five: Ye Men Of Good Cheer Two bits, four bits, six bits, a dollar All you La Salle boys stand up and holler! Yea!! An extinct component of a La Salle football game these days is the cheerleader group. When I went to La Salle, the cheerleaders were in full force, with megaphones in hand, smiles on their face, and energy in their frames. It also seemed cool to be a cheerleader, and I found out that most of these cheerleaders played other sports in other seasons, and were cheerleaders with the main goal of helping the football team win. But when did cheerleading start at La Salle, and, when did it end? And what happened in between? Well, get your hands together, and your vocal cords in tune, and enjoy this Retrospect about Ye Men of Good Cheer. Hurrah Explorers, Hurrah Explorers, someone in the stands is yelling Hurrah Explorers, One, Two, Three, Four, Who The Hell Are We For? Explorers, That s Who! Cheerleading is a relatively new phenomenon when related to world history. In our country, the roots of cheerleading started at sporting events, most appropriately, at football games. Since the first recorded football game was a tussle between Princeton and Rutgers in 1869, it has been assumed that cheerleading started soon after. By the 1880 s, as the sport of football got its grip on the hearts and souls of the collegiate crowd, Princeton University was the first to organize an all-male pep club to lead cheers, identified as unified chants or yells at the football games to spur on their Tigers. And the term cheers was not used yet; yells was the more popular term. Regardless of what they were called, the teams felt that these organized yells/cheers helped them to win by firing up the fans. One of the earliest yells that Princeton used was the Princeton Locomotive. We may hear this as Rah, rah, rah, siss, boom, bah, but it really was Siss Boom Ahhh, which was the sound emanating from a steam locomotive in the 19th Century. But this Princeton Locomotive yell may actually have been copied from a rocket cheer done by the New York 7th Regiment during their Civil War march through Princeton. Plagiarism even then!

2 Fumble it, fumble it, F U M B L E it! In 1884, one of Princeton s alums, Thomas Peebles, moved to Minneapolis, and introduced the pep club concept to the students at the University of Minnesota, and that concept caught on like wildfire at the Midwestern colleges. By 1889, many schools and universities had their own pep clubs, and had developed school fight songs as well. In 1898, after the Minnesota Golden Gophers had lost three straight games, and were facing archrival Northwestern, Johnny Campbell, the yell leader of the University of Minnesota, was credited with an innovation: he grabbed a megaphone, jumped onto the field, and led the crowd from there. Minnesota won that game, 17-6, and the phenomenon of cheerleading was now a permanent fixture on the gridiron. Heigh Ho Let s Go, Get That Ball and Away We Go! In 1903, Minnesota created a Yell Squad that was comprised of 6 male cheerleaders, and this led to a cheer fraternity called Gamma Sigma. Texas A&M created The Cheerleading State in 1905, a group of men who led the cheers at football games. Many fight songs and school songs, including Alma Maters, were developed in the late 19th Century and early 20th Century, and the traditions associated with those songs continue to this day. In 1923, Minnesota introduced women to the previously all-male cheerleading corps, and women became the majority of the cheerleaders in most colleges in the 1940 s, when many men were off to war. The 20 s saw the first use of tumbling and gymnastics skills, and flash cards or signs were introduced soon after, as well as music to augment a cheerleading routine. Though technology has modernized some of the activities in cheerleading, the basics of cheerleading were cemented into place by the mid-40 s. Hit 'em up high boys, Hit 'em down low, Come on La Salle, Beat St. Joe's Cheerleading The Early Years at La Salle There s limited information in documents I ve looked at to determine the origin of cheerleading at La Salle. The football team s first season was 1903, an inaugural campaign where the fledgling La Sallians scored a total of 5 points on the season, all in their first ever game against Catholic on October 13, Perhaps that difficult season was the cause of La Salle dropping football until it rose again in The 1915 and 1916 teams were successful, amassing an overall record. But there s no yearbook or documentation to identify any cheerleading organization. The 1918 yearbook, the oldest one I ve seen, celebrated the undefeated (6-0-0) football team, but gives no indication of any cheerleading. The same applies to the 1921 yearbook. Yearbooks were printed in 1922 and 1923, but I have yet to see them.

3 But, finally, the yearbooks from 1926 to 1928 show some indication that cheerleading was alive and well at La Salle, but no proof on whether a pep club or cheerleading group was officially formed. Class Alma Maters, class cheers, and other songs were developed, to be used at school, I m sure, but also at football games. Whatever momentum the football team, as well as the cheerleading efforts, were gained, they were dashed by La Salle s ejection from the Catholic League prior to the 1928 football season. Their return to the PCL in 1934 was somewhat humbling, as the football team struggled in the mid-30 s. Any efforts at cheerleading was not evident from studying the 1934 and 1936 yearbooks. But the 1936 season saw a return to the spirit of old, as some new school songs made their presence, and the cheerleaders were back in full force. The school fight song, The Blue And Gold, was shown in the 1937 yearbook; the lyrics are very close to our Fling Out. And the cheerleaders are pictured in the yearbook as well, with group pictures in the 1938 to 1940 yearbooks as well. Heck Cheer Are you happy? HECK YES! Are you all sad? HECK NO! Let s all swing with La Salle L A S A L L E (swinging raised arm right, then left)

4 Fred Meyer 39 Fred Meyer was a Varsity cheerleader in at least three of his four years at La Salle, and was co-captain in his senior year. His yearbook profile indicated that he was a smooth dresser and dancer, liked Tommy Dorsey, and all sports, and he wanted to be an undertaker. Fred Meyer did not follow the smell of embalming fluid, but instead followed the smell of developing fluid, as he became a renowned news photographer, but not before he was an aerial gunner in World War II and a prisoner of war for 10 months, and receiving the Purple Heart and the Distinguished Flying Cross, among other military honors. He became a staff photographer for the Philadelphia Bulletin, and his work garnered him over 50 awards for sports and feature photography, most notably a Pulitzer Prize in photography in Fred Meyer was inducted into the La Salle College High School Hall of Fame. Not bad for a cheerleader! 1937 Yearbook 1938 Yearbook 1939 Yearbook

5 FLING OUT Fling out the Blue and the Gold, And join the jubilee, While La Salle is marching Onward to victory. Rah! Rah! Rah! Fling out the Blue and the Gold, And wave it far and free, Fight! Fight! Explorers, to victory. The 1937 Version The Current Version, over 50 years old The War Years After 1940, there s no evidence in the yearbooks that cheerleading kept its presence up during the war years; the squad was definitely back for the 1946 season. However, a list of cheers from a 1944 football program is shown below:

6 More cheers are shown here from a 1951 program: Deny them, deny them, make them relinquish the ball! First and ten, do it again, First and ten, do it again. Ex-Lax, Ex-Lax, Opens up the hole!! (heard only once in the 60 s!) We fight good, we fight well When we fight we fight like L A S A L L E Block that kick! Block that kick! Hold that line! Hold that line! The cheerleading corps, if not losing its popularity, at least was losing its notoriety, as most of the 50 s yearbooks, and into the early 60 s, don t denote the presence of the cheerleaders. But the 60 s saw somewhat of a rebirth, with sharp Varsity sweaters, megaphones, and sometimes straw hats, as the cheerleaders led the football Explorers onto the field at home games at McCarthy Stadium. I later found out that many of these guys were Varsity players in winter and spring sports (basketball, baseball, tennis), and many of them belonged to a newly-formed Spirit Club. I remember many of their cheers in the mid-60 s, including this long one: A yell, a yell, and when we yell we yell like hell! Amen! A man, a man Diego, San Diego, Baby in a high chair, Who put her up there? Rah, Rah, Siss, Boom, Aahh! Stand on your head, stand on your feet, La Salle, La Salle, can t be beat! Rah!

7 Before a 1964 game at McCarthy Stadium Cheerleader at the 1962 West Catholic game Why so quiet? Why so quiet? Start the buses! Start the buses! A 1966 game at McCarthy Stadium 1967 at McCarthy

8 Cheerleading seemed to be popular again. Little did we know that cheerleading at La Salle as we knew it was fighting a losing battle to survive. Maybe it was the times: the Vietnam War, a relaxed dress code, Woodstock, who knows. But cheerleading at La Salle as spearheaded by guys in the Spirit Club started to fade away. By the mid-70 s, the La Salle male cheerleaders were replaced by: GIRLS! Ye Women of Good Cheer? Elevator, elevator, who has the elevator? We got the shaft! Yes, for those of you who didn t know, girls from local high schools (St. Basil s reportedly the first) wore cheerleader outfits adorned with an L, and cheered at La Salle football games!! Their cheering took a while to make a difference; the 1974 team went 0-9-0, but improved by 1976 to a mark. Maybe the girl cheerleaders made a difference once people got used to them, but it seems as if they faded away as well somtime in the 80 s. La Salle cheerleading, which seemed to have its roots in the mid- 20 s, also seemed to become extinct about 60 years later. Post-Mortem La Salle had cheerleaders from local girls high schools from 1974 to 1976 This is not to say that cheering has become extinct at La Salle football games. The student body often comes up with ad lib cheers, some that become part of the fabric of the Explorer faithful, and some which happen just once. The ersatz cheerleaders are typically the Student Council executives, who ran on a platform of greater school spirit, more activities, and more days off from school. Gone are the days of the Varsity sweaters, megaphones, and straw hats. But the school spirit is still there, though the echoes of the cheers from decades ago cannot be heard anymore. New traditions, like white-outs at key games, often against the Prep, when the student body all wears white as a sign of solidarity, have been seen since the 2000 s.

9 Other attempts at building school spirit still include pep rallies, which have stood the test of time. And then there are the clever, though misguided efforts of some to do something unique, like one year in the 2000 s where, for the Prep game, T-shirts with the letters FTP on them were worn by many in the student body. A feeble attempt to identify that acronym as Feed The Poor was summarily dismissed by the powers-thatbe at La Salle. La Salle s mascot, the Explorer, is present at most football games, and he is a willing participant in the cheering, but his Herman Munster-like gait tends to evoke sympathy rather than promote energy. But check out his new make-over below!! The now old La Salle Explorer mascot Give me an L L! Give me an A A! Give me an S S! Give me an A A! Give me an L L! Give me another L L! Give me and E E! What s that spell? LA SALLE! What s that spell? LA SALLE! Student Council exec Jimmy Sinnott, celebrating the 2005 Thanksgiving Day win over St. Joseph s Prep. So, at least at this point, the Johnny Campbells of La Salle have mothballed their megaphones and Varsity sweaters and straw hats, and have retreated back into the stands, never to appear again. But never say never at La Salle!! I welcome your comments, corrections, and additions. Go La Salle!! Bill Wasylenko, 69 explorerfb@gmail.com May 7, 2013, revised January 16, 2014 The new mascot logo on the renovated basketball court