The changing of decades brought new styles and trends to Western, and the Mustangs cheer team was no exception. The neat bobs once sported by the Mustangs ladies made way for fully grown-out hairstyles, often tied into braids or pigtails. The men, who before appeared clean-shaven with military-esque hairdos, were now keen to show off large mustaches and shoulder-length hair. The 1970s and early 1980s were the only years that facial hair was permitted among Mustang men, as male cheerleaders reverted to the “clean cut” look of yesteryear by the 1990s.
During this era, cheerleading attire continued to change as the sport developed into a quicker, more intense endeavour. In 1986, the Mustangs men ditched their signature white pants for shorts. The thick, knit sweaters of decades past were quickly becoming unsuitable for these athletes as well, eventually being traded for t-shirts and crewnecks. Consider differences in the team’s attire in 1983 and again in 1989. No other decade saw such a drastic change in the team’s look over such a short amount of time.
The National Collegiate Cheerleading Championship
Is cheerleading a sport? Over the first sixty years of cheer at Western, most would argue that despite their athleticism, Western cheerleaders were never competing in a “sport.” Most Western yearbooks listed cheerleading as a “club” or “spirit squad,” and one could reason that a squad can’t be a sports team if its main purpose is to cheer on another sports team.
Today, however, the Mustangs cheerleaders are lauded as one of Western’s most successful and visible sports teams. Vital to cheerleading’s crossover as a legitimate sporting endeavour was the birth of nation-level competitions in which the cheerleaders themselves became the main athletic attractions. Interestingly, the competitive landscape of cheerleading has its roots at Western in the 1980s.
Each November, over twenty cheerleading clubs from across Canada descend to the CAA Centre in Brampton to compete at the National Collegiate Cheerleading Championships (NCCC), Canada’s premier university competition. November 25, 2022, marked the NCCC’s 36th edition, and first since 2019. The very first collegiate championship, shown in the photo below, was held at Western’s Alumni Hall in 1985.
During the 1980s, cheerleading began to grow as a competitive athletic discipline in the United States. In 1982, Western’s Head Cheerleader, David-Lee Tracey, decided to form his own cheerleading group called “PCA” – Power Cheerleading Athletics. PCA began hosting competitions and workshops for teams all over the country, helping to build the competitive discipline of power cheerleading in Canada. In the decades since, PCA has held national competitions at Hamilton’s Copps Coliseum (now the First Ontario Centre), Mississauga’s Hershey Centre (now the Paramount Fine Foods Centre), and even Toronto’s Skydome (now the Rogers Centre). From 1985 to 1996, the Mustangs co-ed squad won 12 consecutive titles, beginning a streak of dominance not seen by any university squad before or since.
Mustangs South of the Border
Today the Mustangs are renowned for their incredible competitive record against cheer teams from the United States. In the 1990s, however, American competitions were hesitant to allow Canadian teams to compete. The first time the Mustangs competed south of the border was on March 18, 1995, at the U.S. National Cheerleading Championships in Minneapolis. According to Coach Tracey, “They originally didn’t want to give us a shot because we are Canadian.”
On the day of the competition, the Mustangs beat out 32 American teams to win the title. For their efforts, the team had the chance to perform at a Minnesota Timberwolves game the next night.
In 1994, the Mustangs co-ed team was cast in the Disney film “The Air Up There” featuring Kevin Bacon. The team can be seen performing numerous stunts at the very end of the film. This was perhaps the only time the team wore colours aside from purple and white!
Stunts of the Era
“Split catches” 1985 – in front of the Western Observatory – a staple skill throughout the decade.
A daring dive-roll over a six-person pyramid. Photo Credit: 1953 Occidentalia, Western University yearbook
By the late 1940s, cheerleading squads were growing to between eight and 10 members. As a result, Western cheerleaders began developing a new form of creativity: human pyramids. A photo of these early pyramids was featured in the Nov 5th, 1948 edition of the Western Gazette. Although these early pyramids may not have possessed the size or technical prowess of later formations, they nonetheless showcased a great deal of creativity and originality.
Perhaps the most iconic move of the time was the banana split jump, which became incredibly popular during the 1950s and even found its way on the cover of a Mustang’s Gridiron News program in 1953. During player introductions, the cheerleaders would form a tunnel and jump as high as possible, hands and legs extended, as the football players charged by. An excellent shot of this can be found in the 1966 occidentalia. Chances are, if you’re looking at a picture of cheerleaders from these decades, you can count on at least one of them hitting a banana split.
Here’s an interesting tidbit of cheerleading trivia: During the 1945 and 1946 seasons, the Western cheerleaders wore numbers! The squad swapped their “W” sweaters for long-sleeved hockey jerseys numbered from 14 to 26. Mustang historians explain the change in uniform as being a result of the university’s shortened budget post-war, leading to a recycling of jerseys amongst varsity teams. The cheerleaders would go back to their customary Western sweaters during the 1947 season. 1946 was also the first time the squad went truly “co-ed”, boasting four men and four women. This equal-gender configuration would remain the norm for decades to come.
Looking back on Mustangs cheerleading during this period reveals an interesting contrast to the ultra-competitive athletic squads of today. Around 1950, the team would celebrate victories with a “ring-around-the-rosie” celebration with a leader dressed in a suit and barbershop-style hat. The cheerleaders also sat during play at football games during the 1940s and 1950s, a practice unthinkable by today’s standards. The attire of cheerleaders during this time was also far from what one would consider “athletic”. Women wore purple baseball caps during the late 1940s and early 1950s to go with their thick knit sweaters and collared shirts. For men, a “W” sweater, sneakers, and white slacks were the dress of the day, perfect for showing off the dirt accumulated from all “kanninys” after Mustangs touchdowns.
The 1960s saw a “style revolution” of sorts, as white cowboy hats became a staple for both men and women. Women’s attire changed based on the increasing frequency of shoulder stands and pyramids.
While peak athletic performance may not have been a prime concern in those days, the cheerleaders were still easily capable of wowing crowds with their circus-like feats and acrobatics. Such daring stunts included members dive-rolling over six-person pyramids (1953 occidentalia p. 146, pictured above); female cheerleaders hula-hooping on the shoulders of their male counterparts (1959 occidentalia); and a greater incorporation of gymnastic elements such as handstands (1958 occidentalia) headstands (1961 occidentalia) and somersaults. Indeed, Mustang’s spectators of the time were truly spoiled with their entertainment!
By the late 1960s, human pyramids had been a staple of the Mustangs stunt repertoire for at least 20 years. However, with the team now regularly boasting 12+ members a season, a greater variety of pyramids was now possible. The team began experimenting with increasingly bizarre (and risky) human structures at football games. An incredible shot from the 1970 season shows a cheerleader standing atop the shoulders of two of his teammates, who are each planted firmly on the shoulders of three more teammates! It was these early human pyramids that served as the prototypes for today’s similarly large, however more structured, human pyramids.
As the 1970s rolled on, the Mustangs cheerleading team continued to honor their many tried and true traditions, while simultaneously pushing the envelope in their discipline. In the next segment of “A Century of Mustang Cheerleading”, we will discuss the athletic revolution that would forever change the team, as well as the sport of cheerleading itself.
By Alex Marchand, BSc’18, MA’20, Western Mustangs Coed Cheerleader 2016 – 2020
Doris Eagles in action. Photo Credit: 1939 Occidentalia, University of Western Yearbook
In the arena of collegiate cheerleading, few universities possess a reputation as profound and prestigious as the Western Mustangs. Cheerleading is among Western’s proudest traditions.
You might have been introduced to them during your orientation week or perhaps a residence or faculty rally? Over the years, the Mustangs Cheerleaders entertained at Homecoming parades and sporting events, helping to instill pride in your alma mater. To this day, excellence remains with the Mustangs cheerleaders, as the team continues to be a fixture at events across campus and dominates competitions throughout North America.
Though the Mustangs were unable to compete or perform for most of 2020-21, the year did mark an important milestone for the squad: one century of cheerleading at Western.
Over the next four editions of The Scoop, I will guide you through this sport’s deep, winding history at Western. Hopefully, you will gain an even greater appreciation for Canada’s foremost tradition in collegiate cheerleading. In this edition, we will start from the very beginning, covering the first 25 years of cheerleading at Western.
The beginning (1920-1929):
Exploring the first decade of Mustangs cheerleading is a challenging task, as there was precious little documentation of the activity during these years. Most of our knowledge comes from short descriptions “cheer leaders” written in yearbook biographies. At present, we know of seven Western students who were bestowed the title of “cheerleader” during the 1920s. It is widely believed that F.G. “Doc” Thompson holds the distinction of being Western’s first cheerleader. In the 2001 book “Mustang Tales”, Bob Gage wrote that Doc Thompson and his “Rollicking Rooters” began entertaining spectators at Western rugby games in 1920 (p. 139). In Doc’s graduation bio from the 1924 Occidentalia, cheerleading is listed among the activities Thompson partook in while studying medicine at Western, supporting Gage’s assertion that Thompson was at the university over 100 years ago leading cheers for the purple and white.
An especially monumental tradition in Western cheerleading was born during the 1920s as well, albeit from an unlikely source. Arts student Mary Margaret Ovens was no cheerleader, though her musical talents made her renowned among her peers from the arts class of 1929.
That year, Ovens penned what is now known as Western’s School Song, then titled “School of Fame”. Following all Western Mustangs touchdowns, the cheerleaders religiously recite Ovens’ words to the tune of the Mustang Marching Band, having done so at every football game they have attended since the 1930s. The team’s performance of the song is the same today as it was all those decades ago, an indelible remnant of the earliest days of Mustang’s spirit.
Indeed, the pioneering rooters of the 1920s laid an important foundation for the future of cheer at Western. As the 1930s rolled along, cheerleading became more organized, and the team experienced an expansion in both membership and visibility.
Growth during depressing times (1930-38):
The earliest known photo of Western cheerleaders on the sideline was published more than 90 years ago in the 1931 Occidentalia. Three men stand together in a newly constructed J.W. Little Memorial Stadium, each clad in ties, loafers, thick cardigans, and white trousers. While styles have certainly changed, the job of these cheerleaders was very much the same as it is now.
Dubbed “The Noise Makers”, these few men were given high praise for their boisterous efforts: “Ah, you other guys who led us on, on to cheer our team to victory and gave such a splendid trio on the Queen’s Gaelic, can we ever forget you? No. Never. Your lives, your music, your voices live on and on…” (p. 133). A white-striped megaphone similar to those used by today’s cheerleaders is seen sitting in front of them, indicating their voices played an integral role in their cheerleading duties: “And, cheer leaders, you might also start now on lessons in voice culture, calisthenics (not that you really need it)” (p. 133).
Mustangs cheerleading had become a formal team affair by the 1930s, though team sizes remained limited between three to six members per season. By 1934 the squad had dropped their cardigans and replaced them with more suitable white sweaters, each displaying a large purple “W” on the front.
Evidence of growing appreciation for the cheerleaders can be found in a 1935 editorial from the University Students’ Commission (USC) giving “special consideration to the organization of cheer leaders, with the realization that much may be gained in enthusiasm and support of school teams” (1935 Occi, p. 131). In less than two decades, cheerleading had developed into a cherished and respected tradition at Western, albeit a predominantly masculine one. It was during the late 1930s that women truly began to make their mark on the sport.
The “co-ed” debate: who was Western’s first female cheerleader?
Perhaps no cheerleader in Western’s history has received a level of prominence and esteem as Doris Eagles. For over eight decades, Ms. Eagles has been recognized as the Western Mustangs’ inaugural female member. An iconic image of Doris soaring through the air was published in the 1939 Occidentalia, one the earliest photos depicting Western cheerleaders as being skilled athletes.
Doris’s tenure with the Mustangs lasted from 1938 to 1940, and a summary of the Arts ’41 class from that year’s Occidentalia proclaimed Doris as being “the first co-ed cheer leader” (p. 28) in Western’s history. This sentiment was repeated 12 years later in the book “Western – 1878-1953”, which listed 1938 as the year “Miss Doris Eagles became Western’s first girl cheerleader” (p. 154).
Recent discoveries, however, suggest a different individual may hold this distinction. In Mustang Tales, Bob Gage notes Helen G. Patterson as being an “assistant” of cheerleader Marshall “Marsh” Macpherson as far back as 1921 (p. 139). Helen was a Western student during this time, and her biography in the 1924 Occidentalia mentions her contributions to the university as a “cheer leader” (p. 42). This short paragraph, along with her graduation photo, is all the information we have about Ms. Patterson. Unfortunately for Helen, it was not until the late 1930s that the profile of collegiate cheerleading had sufficiently expanded, along with photographic and written documentation of cheerleaders. For these reasons, Helen’s legacy has been largely overshadowed by later female cheerleading pioneers. Today, however, we can confidently say that Helen was indeed one of Western’s earliest spirit leaders, a distinction for which she should be celebrated.
A much-awaited female presence (1939-45):
With Doris Eagles paving the way, the 1940s saw Mustang cheerleading’s status as an all-male activity become a thing of the past. History was made in 1941 as Doreen Busby, Ann Little and Fran Henry formed the first all-female Mustangs cheer squad. The “W” sweater remained a staple of the cheerleaders’ attire, with females trading white trousers for dark knee-height skirts.
Cheerleading would remain exclusively female throughout most of the war years, becoming co-ed once again in 1944-45. It was around this time that stunts and tricks were becoming a staple in the cheerleaders’ game day repertoire. The 1946 Occidentalia described crowds greeting cheerleaders with “happy cries of ‘cartwheel!’” (p. 21) during football games, but the cheerleaders’ stunts extended far beyond this. Take an image from the 1944 season, in which a member can be seen diving between the outstretched legs of an inverted teammate as he performs a headstand! It is incredible to consider how, even 75+ years ago, Western cheerleaders were performing feats of athleticism that remain impressive by today’s standards!
As the first quarter century of “canninnys” and “purple and whites” drew to a close, co-ed cheerleading was well on its way to becoming the spectacular, visually captivating athletic tradition it is today.
Check back in the next edition of The Scoop to learn about the evolution of Mustang cheerleading between the years 1946 and 1970.
