The History of Cheerleading Megaphones
Megaphones are as synonymous with cheerleading as tumbles and chants that ignite spirit from the crowd. This cheerleading device, used for voice projection, became a tool for letting the crowd know that it was time to join in the fighting spirit.
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1600s
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In the 1600s, Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher invented the first megaphone as a way to project images on darkened room walls.
1880s
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In the 1880s, cheerleading megaphones became a part of team spirit when Princeton University became the first football team to use them in cheering displays.
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1890s
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Two University of Minnesota students, Tom Peebles and Johnny Campbell, used megaphones in the 1890s to project their voices at college football games.
1903
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Before 1903, Princeton and the University of Minnesota were the only two universities on record who used cheerleading megaphones. That year, University of Minnesota organized the first cheerleading fraternity, and cheerleaders at other universities also began using megaphones at football games.
1920
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In the 1920s, only men cheered at football games and used megaphones to project their deep voices. Women cheered in activities considered female sports, like gymnastics.
1930s and 1940s
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In the 1930s, the cheerleading megaphone became part of both male and female cheering exercises as a tool used to entertain crowds. A decade later, former cheerleader Lawrence Herkimer established cheerleading as an official sport, founding the National Cheerleading Association.
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