Cheerleaders Deny Allegations; Reschedule Tryouts for Men

George Rodrigue

Cavalier Daily

Cavalier Daily

1974-10-03

Cavalier Daily

Cheerleaders Deny Allegations; Reschedule Tryouts for Men
By GEORGE RODRIGUE
The cheerleading squad will make another effort to find qualified male cheerleaders, and plans to continue singing “The Good Old Song” after every touchdown.
These and other topics were discussed yesterday at a meeting between Cheerleaders’ Coach George Edwards and Student Council President Dan Hobbs.
Mr. Edwards said tryouts for male cheerleaders will be held on October 14, and added “I personally hope that they are very successful.”
He denied charges that there was a “policy” against male cheerleaders.
“I personally asked several guys to try out, and we did our best to let everyone, male and female, know about the fall tryouts. We put a letter in every first-year student’s mail box; the girls went around to all the fraternity houses, asking guys to be cheerleaders. We gave an announcement to The Cavalier Daily, but it was never printed,” he said.
Mr. Edwards added, “I have always wanted to have at least five male cheerleaders. I have begged and pleaded with several of them to try out for the team.”
He said the only reason there are no male cheerleaders on the present team is that “only one qualified male actually tried out for the team in the fall.”
He said the team needs “at least four men” if they are to have any at all, and noted that they had never had more than five men practicing for the team at one time.
Because of the poor turn-out last spring, “the judges asked several of the guys who tried out last spring to wait until the fall tryouts, when they hoped to have a better selection due to the arrival of first0year students,” Mr. Edwards said, adding he was not a judge during the spring selections.
Cheerleader Lynn Ingram said she “personally put most of the letters into the first-year mailboxes,” and explained that all the girls were looking forward to having men on the team.
“I guess that most of the guys were afraid to come out,” she said.
Miss Ingram, one of the coordinators for the cheers, said, “‘The Good Old Song,’ will continue to be played after every touchdown.”
She said Mr. Edwards never insisted that the song not be played and added that he rarely advises them on their program.
“We just try to do what the crowd wants,” she said. “We did a survey last fall during the basketball season and that’s where we get a lot of our ideas. The newer cheers are designed to appeal to several groups of people.”
Mr. Edwards admitted that he thought “The Good Old Song” was not peppy enough for a touchdown song, but said that he never told the girls to stop singing it.
“I just asked people in the band about it, and they said they wanted to leave it in. So I just dropped it. I have nothing to do with the girls’ cheers, or with the songs they sing,” he said.
Mr. Hobbs said he was “mainly worried about the rumors that males had been excluded from the team and that ‘The Good Old Song’ was being phased out.”