Today is the 84th birthday of the Father of Cheerleading: Lawrence “Herkie” Herkimer. And it’s definitely a day to celebrate. You see, cheerleading would not be what it is without this man. Don’t believe me? Just check out this short list of cheerleading firsts, all courtesy of Herkie:

Herkie doing—what else?—the Herkie jump. Photo courtesy of NCA.

• The first cheerleading camp

• The first cheer company: National Cheerleaders Association (NCA)

• The spirit stick

• The pom pon

• The first uniform company

• The Herkie jump, of course!

The first time I met Herkie Herkimer was at the very first NCA Collegiate Nationals I attended as an editor for American Cheerleader. I had major butterflies as I approached him and introduced myself. After chatting with him for a few minutes, I called my mom (a former cheerleader and my one-time cheer coach) and screamed, “I just met Herkie!”

A few months later, I called Herkie to interview him for AC. He spent an hour on the phone with me, sharing memories of his early days in cheerleading and commenting on what he thinks is the future of the sport. It was a day I’ll never forget, and today, in honor of Herkie’s birthday, I thought I’d share with you some of that conversation.

AC: First, tell us about the Herkie jump. How did that start?

Herkie: Actually, I just happened to jump like that. I had a pretty high jump because when I took off I threw my right arm up real hard to help me get off the ground, and when I did that I’d jerk that right leg up a little bit. It was a poor split jump actually; I kept my heel out to keep it from looking like a ballet jump. I wanted it to look manly, but it was poor form.

When a photographer or the newspaper would come out and want to take a picture at our camps, I would put three or four cheerleaders down in front and I would jump over them. Every time I’d jump, that’s the way it was. People kept seeing this jump all over the country by somebody named Herkie, and so they just started calling it the Herkie jump.

AC: You created a few other cheerleading staples, including the spirit stick. How did a plastic tube come to represent squad spirit?

Herkie: The spirit stick got started at a camp out at the University of Redlands (CA). We had a group out there who were really characters. They had lots of spirit but almost no talent. So I decided they had to have some recognition. I broke a little stick off a tree and awarded them the “spirit stick” for their unusual spirit. Then we started doing this at all the camps—until the kids started stripping the trees on the campuses making their own spirit sticks. The next summer and I had 1,000 dowel sticks cut and painted red, white and blue. At camp, we played little games we did with it; you’d raise the spirit stick up and everybody’d yell, then you’d lower it and they’d cut off. We started awarding the spirit stick to the groups who showed the most spirit each day, and whoever won it at the end of the week—or three times during the week— got to take it home with them. The spirit stick is the most outstanding award you can get. It’s the symbol for spirit.

AC: You also invented another spirited symbol—the pom pon. What was the inspiration for that?

Herkie: When I saw color TV for the first time at the New York World’s Fair, I decided that cheerleaders had to have something more colorful out on the field rather than that chrome stick (baton) the girls twirled. I got the idea of putting some crepe paper streamers on the end of that stick, and I taught a little dance routine to the song “Lollipop,” which was pretty popular at that time. We started selling pom pon kits with wire, sticks and streamers so kids could make them easily. Then we started teaching routines at all the camps. They grew so popular that we had to manufacture them, and eventually we made them out of the plastic you see today.

AC: You really started a cheerleading craze across the country. How did you handle all the notoriety?

Herkie: It was fun! It started in the late ’50s and early ’60s. The Associated Press and United Press International printed photos in newspapers all over the country. Sports Illustrated had an article about me and a photo of my doing the jump, and they tagged me as “Mr. Cheerleader.” One thing led to another, and I found myself on [the TV game shows] “To Tell The Truth,” “Truth Or Consequences” and “What’s My Line?” I was even in a commercial for Cheer detergent!

AC: How has the role of female cheerleaders changed?

Herkie: At one time, the girls only did the pom pon routines, not much tumbling. When Nadia Comaneci came onto the scene in the [1976] Olympics, girls started getting into gymnastics. I competed in gymnastics and won some awards in Texas, but what I won those awards with I couldn’t even make the squad with now. I was one of the few people in the country who could do a double back at one time, and now girls are doing them. I’m just amazed at the strength these girls have now. I didn’t know a girl who could do a standing back flip when we were competing, and now they’re doing standing fulls! It’s just absolutely amazing.

AC: Has the role of guy cheerleaders changed as much?

Herkie: When we first started the camps at the high school level, there were only a few boys. It wasn’t too popular at that level. We had to campaign to recruit boys for squads. But it was different when we got into gymnastics. We started teaching partner stunts and gymnastics, and then it wasn’t sissy to be a boy cheerleader when you’ve got gymnastics and tosses. And it wasn’t based on dance. The boys used to do all the tumbling while the girls did the pom routines. Now in a lot of these college and high school groups, the boys are doing a lot of the dancing and the girls are doing a lot of the tumbling! And the boys have got really cool moves. It’s come full circle.

AC: Would you have ever dreamed cheerleading would come to this height of popularity?

Herkie: No, I never thought it would come to this. It’s been amazing to watch the interest balloon. Now when you visit schools and you ask the average girl what she’d like to be, and I’d say over 65 percent of girls would say, “I want to be a cheerleader.” Even at Halloween, so many little kids dress up as cheerleaders. It’s quite a phenomenon.

AC: As someone who’s led a life of cheer, what do you consider some of the other benefits cheerleading brings to those who do it?

Herkie: It gives kids get a chance to work off their emotions and gives them confidence. Not many people know this, but the reason I got into cheerleading is I had a terrible stuttering problem. They used to call me Her-Her-Herkie. But when I was cheering, I never stuttered. If anyone had told me I would make my living going around the country lecturing, I’d have said they’re crazy. The ability to get in front of an audience, lead a crowd and perform routines, that carries over into your life. It makes you want to be the boss of the company. A lot of cheerleaders have gone to very great heights.

AC: You’ve made such a huge impact on cheerleading as we know it. What do you consider your biggest legacy?

Herkie: What I get the biggest kick out of is that I helped put 1,500 kids through college over the years. I still get letters from them. Cheerleading is so important to so many people—I’m really proud that I helped create an industry that touches a lot of people and gives them such opportunity. The instructors I used to hire got to travel around the country and see things they never would have seen if they’d just stayed in their little towns. They’d go to 10 or 12 camps in 10 or 12 different cities a summer, and it was a great education for them. I think that’s the thing I’m most proud of—the lives I’ve been able to touch. I’ve had three generations come through my camps—daughters, mothers and grandmothers. People come up to me and say, “I went to your camp back in 1965.” It’s amazing that after all these years they still remember those four days they spent at camp. I’m happy that we made something out of it. I think I had the most ideal life a man could have. I got to make a business out of what I love.

Herkie History

High School Stats: cheered all four years at North Dallas (TX) HS. Beat ’em, Bulldogs!

College Cheer Career: cheered on scholarship for three years for the Southern Methodist University (Dallas, TX) Mustangs. After his first year on the field, Herkie served a two-year tour in the navy during World War II and then headed back to SMU and cheered two more years.

Great Grad: coached at the University of Illinois while in grad school, but ended up on the field cheering one more year!

Best jump (as if we have to ask!): “I guess the Herkie. That’s the one that comes naturally. I do that without even thinking.”

Best tumbling pass: round-off back handspring, double back. “When I got to be 42 years old and fell on my knees doing a back flip at camp, I finally thought, ‘OK, maybe it’s time to stop.’”

Reprinted from American Cheerleader magazine’s October 2002 issue.

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