La Salle College High School Football: in Retrospect
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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! 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 0-4-0 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, 1903. Perhaps that difficult season was the cause of La Salle dropping football until it rose again in 1915. The 1915 and 1916 teams were successful, amassing an overall 6-2-4 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. 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) 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 1964. 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 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: 1949 1946 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! 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 Elevator, elevator, who has the elevator? We got the shaft! Cheerleading seemed to be popular again.