No one knows the name of the first college cheerleader. In the early days of U. S. football (1890s), cheering was confined to a few spontaneous yells of triumph or dismay, or an occasional manly three-times-three. At Harvard, substitutes or injured players first led this protozoic cheering—either a "short Harvard cheer" or a "long Harvard cheer." At the University of Southern California, prim-collared professors directed the yells. Minnesota was one of the first colleges to elect a "yell marshal." His whole duty was to get the spectators to recite in unison, "Rah-rah-rah, Ski-u-mah,...
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