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Senate
Majority Leader Trent Lott was a cheerleader. Mississippi Senator Thad Cochran
was a cheerleader. President Eisenhower was a cheerleader. President Reagan
was a cheerleader. Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson was a cheerleader.
And, George W. Bush cheered at prep school [Phillips Academy in Andover],
leading assistant managing editor of Gentlemens'
Quarterly Jim Nelson to say, "Cheerleaders have been running the
country."
Eisenhower
"Young Ike, cheerleader pioneer, started rooting for West Point
around 1913. What drew people like Eisenhower to cheerleading? 'He was a
frustrated jock,' says Jim Leyerzapf, an archivist at the Eisenhower Presidential
Library in Abilene, Kansas. Ike had a brilliant football career going at
Army - he once played against Jim Thorpe - but when a knee injury sidelined
him, 'he never really got over it.' He wound up in leg braces. Depressed,
he threw himself into cheer. According to the book Ike the Soldier,
he went gonzo, sewing black-and-gold-lettered ARMY capes for his squad and
giving rousing pep talks, his first public speeches. ('He was the best cheerleader
we had,' one classmate raved. 'He made you absolutely certain the team had
to and would win.') Yes, Ike wasn't a great student, but he was a hell of
a handicapped cheerleader. You can picture him hobbling along the sidelines,
fanning his cape and ranting for Navy's demise" (Jim Nelson, Gentlemens'
Quarterly, December 2000).
Ronald Reagan
"Frustrated jock. You get that a lot with male cheerleaders. Reagan
was one. When he rode into Eureka College in Illinois in the '20's, he had
high hopes, as he put it, 'of becoming an overnight football sensation.'
He ended up on the fifth string. A cheerleader was born. 'I've been accused
of majoring in extracurricular activities at Eureaka,' he liked to chuckle,
and it's true: Reagan had his hands in everything. But in retrospect, the
role of cheerleader fits him best. It's the way we remember him now, as
Gipper, commander in cheer, pipe-dreaming about a 'shining city on the hill'"
(Jim Nelson, Gentlemens' Quarterly, December 2000).
George W. Bush
"And so it goes with George W., who was known as a less than dedicated
student and an adequate athlete but an inspired cheerleader. When he formed
a stickball league, he named one of the teams the Nads. Fans got to yell,
'Go, Nads!' (Oh, the purebred folly of prep school.) As head cheerleader
he played pranks, too, and students loved him, the king ham of school spirit"
(Jim Nelson, Gentlemens' Quarterly, December 2000).
| Notable Texas Cheerleaders
John Connally, former Governor
of Texas and U.S. Treasurer
Aaron
Spelling, Actor, Director, Writer, Producer [also cheerleader at Southern
Methodist University]
Lynn
Wyatt, Houston Socialite
| "When asked "What are the traits of the quintessential Texan?"
Wyatt replied, "A Texas girl has a certain spirit. She has something
that's inbred -- a certain aura, if you will. She's athletic for one thing;
we grow up knowing about ranch life and about guns, how to handle them safely.
It's an independent spirit that we have. The Texas woman just thinks, `I
can do anything.' " (Annette Tapert, Town and Country, July 2000). |
Carolyn Farb,
Houston Socialite and author of "How to Raise Millions, Helping Others,
Having a Ball"
Heloise, San Antonio Native and
Syndicated Columnist
Phyllis George Brown,
former CBS Broadcaster, and 1971 Miss America
PHYLLIS GEORGE
"My mother used to say, "Phyllis, settle down and smell the
roses." I was very busy. I went to church on Sundays, I was the president
of the Methodist Youth Fellowship, I was a cheerleader, and for fourteen
years I played classical piano. Growing up in Denton was a very normal,
family-oriented childhood. We had dinner together every night at the dinner
table. My grandmother George made quilts. I remember the old quilting frame
when I would go over to Grandma's house in Denton. I thought, "Oh,
this is weird." She would have those big bags of remnants and scraps
of material from everybody's clothes, and she would turn them into a beautiful
quilt. She would give me quilts, and I kept them. They weren't quite like
the ones I collect now, but they mean just as much to me. Of course, when
I was young, I thought, "I wish Grandmother would give me money. Another
quilt? Awww." "
Phyllis George was born in Denton in 1949 and attended North Texas State
University. A former Miss America, she was the first woman sportscaster
on network television. She is a co-host of the new Pax Net TV showWoman's
Day, which debuted in August, and the author ofLiving With Quilts (GT Publishing),
which hit bookstores in October."
(Patricia Busa, The Ex-Files, Texas Monthly, December 1998). |
Susan
Howard, native of Marshall, Texas and a star on the long running nighttime
soap 'Dallas'.
| "... in a 1990 television commercial, Susan Howard of Dallas offers
the image of the NRA as the good boyfriend, soothingly stating, "Owning
a firearm is a deeply personal decision, but you don't have to do it alone."
" (Josh Sugerman, Frontline, 1998). |
Jerry Hall, native of Mesquite, Texas, actress, supermodel, musician,
and Mick Jagger's Ex.
Kay Bailey Hutchinson,
U.S. Senator from Texas and former UT Cheerleader
Sissy Spacek, majorette in Quitman, Texas, actress and movie star.
For more, read Texas Cheerleaders: The Spirit of America by John
Hawkins, St Martin's Press, New York, 1991. |
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