Museum Corner September 2022

Two bits, four bits, six bits a dollar

Two bits, four bits, six bits a dollar

By Becky Buher

Standing in front of fans and leading cheers from the floor is a dream for so many young students.

The above picture was donated to the museum by Marsha Ralston. It is just one of several cheer-related pictures and Huron High School cheerleading outfits Marsha’s mother, Jeanette Doane Bates, used that are currently on display at the museum. Jeanette graduated from Huron High School in 1952, having been a Huron Beavers cheerleader all four of her high school years, but she started cheering with the high school squad when she was in the sixth grade.

Before World War II, cheer squads were almost always all male. When Jeanette was cheering, the gender balance had changed, and Huron’s cheerleaders were young women.

The picture was taken at the 1948-49 cheer conference hosted at Bedford High School. Mrs. Burnettia Denny, teacher and cheer sponsor at Heltonville High, reported on the Indiana Cheer Leaders Conference at Indiana University. Mr. George Bishop, principal at Mitchell High spoke on the importance of cheerleading. Mrs. Gladys Patton, teacher at Oolitic High, stressed the proper conduct of cheerleaders at games. 

Readers may remember when Lawrence County had ten public high schools—Bedford, Fayetteville, Heltonville, Huron, Mitchell, Needmore, Oolitic, Shawswick, Tunnelton and Williams. In athletics, those schools competed in county tourneys and in Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) events. Cheerleaders were out front leading yells, encouraging their teams, and guiding their fans. 

You could count on a snowstorm (literally and figuratively) in March, every year, when the basketball sectional was held at the Bedford High School (BHS) gymnasium. The large gym had bleachers on the ground floor as well as balcony seating, and it was the largest gym in the county, so naturally was the site of the IHSAA sectional tournaments. 

I don’t know how the local basketball players felt, but in the early 1960s when I was a student at Oolitic High, I thought the BHS gym was huge. No matter, the county schools had a “Jack the giant killer” attitude, thought the underdog could win, and sometimes did. 

The biggest schools might have had an advantage since there were more students from which to pick team members, but raw talent abounded in all the schools. The basketball games, especially the sectional games, were either attended or listened to on the radio by almost every family in the county. 

When the schools consolidated into Mitchell High School south of White River and Bedford North Lawrence (BNL) High School, north of the river, the athletic teams became more competitive regionally and statewide. 

In addition, the passage of the 1972 Title IX Education Amendment legislated equality for both male and female for any educational activity, and that resulted in a significant increase in young women participating in sports. 

Cheer squads and sports teams flourished. The BNL men’s team won the state basketball championship in 1990. The BNL women’s basketball team won state championships in 1983, 1991, 2013 and 2014 and were state champion runners-up in 1990 and 1992. Cheerleaders supported all these teams.

The National Cheerleading Association had been established in 1951 to provide cheerleading education. By the 1980s, gymnastics had been added to cheer routines. Hundreds of local elementary and middle school students have attended cheer clinics. 

Cheer programs have excelled at BNL and Mitchell, and awards continue to be won at both schools. Some of the cheerleaders have continued their cheering careers at universities such as Indiana University and Indiana State University. Most recently, BNL cheerleaders placed second at this year’s Indiana State Fair Class 3 competition. 

Two of Mitchell cheerleaders’ many awards are: the competition in 1983 when Mitchell High School varsity cheerleaders were named National Grand Champion first place winners in Division VII Special Performances and Group Routines at the United States Cheerleader’s Association competition. In 1990, Mitchell High School cheerleaders placed second in the world competition in Chicago.

Near the museum’s cheer display, you will find honor jackets, school sweaters, senior skirts, pants, and other memorabilia all from the county’s multi-high school era. 

Two bits, four bits, six bits, a dollar, all for your home team, stand up and holler!