Three Cheers For The Cheerleaders!!!

By: John “Butch” Dale

When a school has plenty of spirit, it will also have great cheerleaders. Crawfordsville and all of the smaller schools here in Montgomery County had cheerleaders from the early days of basketball to the present. The students at Darlington elected their first cheerleader, Harley Paddack, in 1916. He had a loud voice, and besides, he was the only one who owned a car and could travel to all of the away games! Many of the girls wanted to be cheerleaders. They practiced for hours in their backyards and at recess, performing somersaults, cartwheels, jumps, splits, and synchronized movements. Trying out in front of the student body was often a terrifying experience, and a few hearts were crushed when the news came back that they had not made the yell squad. But the disappointment soon vanished, and the once aspiring cheerleader joined the others in the cheering section at games to root for the team.

The girl cheerleaders were always a hit with the boys, especially the younger ones. Many cheerleaders had to order extra school photos to pass out to buggy-eyed grade school boys. When my younger brother Gary and his best friend, Stan Weliever, were in the 4th grade, both of them were head over heels in love with high school cheerleader Trudy Mennen. They sat on the bleachers right in front of her at every ballgame, with her autographed photo in hand…caring less about whether the basketball team was winning or not!

When I wrote a book about the history of my school, I interviewed several former cheerleaders, and here are a few comments:

“I think the best time I had in high school was being elected a cheerleader. Tourney time was really exciting, leading yells in front of all those people at the Crawfordsville gym.” -Mary Ellen “Pee Wee” Vannice Harmon

“Barkie Dale and I were elected cheerleaders for the high school team in 1942…Raymon Brown was the coach, and he didn’t want us to do somersaults or cartwheels because he said it detracted from the game!” -Emma Lou Vannice Weliever

“It is a funny feeling to have people call you by name, when you have no idea who they are…but they say they remember when I was a cheerleader at Darlington.” -Judy Cain Mullen

“Probably one of the most exciting times for me was being elected a cheerleader when I was a Senior. I wasn’t very good, but in those days it was more important to have lots of enthusiasm.” -Sharon Hankins Lough

“Our team always had a loyal following and we had lots of school spirit. We had great fun on the bus rides with the basketball boys. When Hobie Mennen and Terri McCauley were the team mascots, we made them dress up like Indians and had them run around a tepee doing war-whoops during the halftimes.” -Rosalie Mennen Carter

“I loved basketball and being a cheerleader. I guess my real love for school was in being with my friends and having a good time. We also went to the baseball games and track meets, and we always had fun giggling about the boys!” -Sherry Hampton Mahoy

“My best memories of Darlington basketball are the games at the high school. It seemed the whole town turned out to support the team. As a cheerleader, I really appreciated the support. In the younger grades, the kids really looked up to the basketball players and cheerleaders. It was fun having admirers, even if you didn’t realize it at the time.” -Trudy Mennen Freeman

My wife and I attend North Montgomery sports events, and it is great to see that school spirit is still alive and well. To all of the past and present cheerleaders who practiced countless of hours, fired up the crowd, and rooted for their teams…win or lose…a big THANK YOU!

– John “Butch” Dale is a retired teacher and County Sheriff. He has also been the librarian at Darlington the past 32 years, and is a well-known artist and author of local history.