40+ Vintage Photos of Cheerleaders That Make Us Feel Nostalgic

Of course, cheerleading is a tough job! If everyone possessed the skills of cheerleaders, there would be no need for them after all. Cheerleaders put copious amounts of hours into training to make sure that their routines are perfect.

Not only is a lot of training required, but keeping fit and healthy is also another requirement that comes with being a cheerleader. Most coaches back in the day would have their cheer squad on strict diets so they had enough energy for the games!

While most modern cheerleading uniforms are skin-tight and made with a certain material to allow cheerleaders to move about freely, this was not always the case. This is perfectly demonstrated by this next vintage photo from an Iowa State cheerleader.

Iowa is a midwest state and thus would get extremely cold during the winter. This would probably explain the thick, woolen Iowa sweater this cheerleader is adorning. If these girls are cheerleading during the summer, they may have to look for an alternative!

You may not recognize her here, but this is actually a still from the 1960 movie Tall Story, with Jane Fonda in her first-ever on-screen role. Fonda plays June Ryder who goes to university to not only study home economics, but to find a husband.

As shown in these photos, the 1960s were a new era for cheerleading uniforms compared to Sandy’s cheerleading uniform in Grease. The inclusion of the miniskirt in these uniforms allowed cheerleaders to move freely and perform a number of difficult tricks.

While cheerleading is starting to become a popular hobby and profession around the world, its importance and prevalence in American culture cannot be understated. There are cheerleaders at a high school or college level, and beyond that, people can become professional cheerleaders.

However, people really underestimate cheerleaders. They might think these ladies are dumb just because they’re cheerleaders, however, that’s certainly not true. Many cheerleaders at a professional level actually have college diplomas and are very skilled in their field.

It’s not just about individual cheerleaders. To be a successful cheerleading team, you need to work and communicate with one another to pull off some of the incredible moves and routines cheerleaders often do while on the pitch.

However, life as a cheerleader isn’t always glamorous. Debbie Kepley, a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader back in the 1970s, disclosed that being a cheerleader felt like being on Miss America — meaning that you’ll do anything people say to be a part of the glitz and glam, including betraying your teammates.

This next vintage picture is taken of a Miami Dolphins cheerleader back in the 1980s. In particular, this image was taken at the 1988 game between the Dolphins and the San Diego Chargers, where the Dolphins ended up winning. Maybe green was a lucky color!

In the 1980s, cheerleading became much less about the outfits and aesthetics, and more about the stunts and routines that could be performed. Cheerleaders would perform everything from dance routines to gymnastic-type stunts to draw in the crowd.

You could probably already tell, but this photo of a cheerleader is from the 1950s. Not only does it include a very patriotic red, white, and blue uniform, but the eye is drawn to the massively oversized pom poms that this particular cheerleader is holding.

While this woman is wearing a short skirt, normally these were frowned upon in the 1950s. Many cheerleaders opted for uniforms that had knee-length or longer skirts. There was less of a need for short skirts given the minimal routine they would perform.

There couldn’t be an article about cheerleading back in the day without mentioning the cheerleading icon, Suzanne Mitchell. Mitchell is behind most of the iconic looks you see adorned on cheerleaders nowadays, after discovering something incredible in the 1970s.

After a cheerleader was caught winking into the camera at the 1976 Super Bowl, Mitchell decided that there was a need for a radical overhaul of cheerleading uniforms. She then began to manage the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders and turn them into the icons they are today.

This next photo shows the cheerleaders from the University of Maryland sometime in the 1950s. While women have been involved in cheerleading since the 1920s, it really wasn’t until the 1940s that they started to join in big numbers and make it become a female-dominated sport.

Again, their uniform is reminiscent of Sandy from Grease, and probably was a huge inspiration for those filmmakers when making Olivia Newton John’s costume. If those sweatshirts were sold in stores, they would be sold out in record time because they’re just so cute.

It is, of course, very likely for footballers to meet their future wives on their team’s cheerleading squad, or even on their rival’s cheerleading squad. This was the case for Alex Smith and Elizabeth Barry. They met when Smith was a player for the 49ers and Barry a cheerleader for the Oakland Raiders.

This old picture reminds us of the relationships that were made between the players and their cheerleading squad. After all, a common movie trope is a quarterback boyfriend and cheerleader girlfriend!

While we think of cheerleading as a female-dominated sport, this wasn’t always the case. From the 19th to the early 20th century, most cheerleaders were exclusively men. Women were only allowed to start joining from 1923, and that was only at the University of Minnesota.

The phenomenon of cheerleading actually began with a man shouting. In 1889, Minnesota student Johnny Campbell picked up a megaphone and rallied the crowd by chanting, “Rah, rah, rah! Ski-u-mah, Hoo-rah! Hoo-rah! Varsity! Varsity! Varsity, Minn-e-so-tah!” Not a very catchy chant mind you, so thank goodness it’s gotten better.

If anyone was lucky enough to live through the ’90s, they will know that it was a decade full of sparkles, sequins, and grunge. This also translated onto the San Fransisco 49ers cheerleading uniform, which was equipped with enough tassels and sparkles that they could be seen from miles away.

Unfortunately, like most phases, this died out. Nowadays, you won’t quite see the same level of detail and sequins attached to cheerleading uniforms. Cheerleaders no longer have to look like showgirls before they step onto the field!

While cheerleading routines are incredibly precise and fun to watch, they also serve a purpose as well. Not only are they meant to get the crowd riled up before and during a game, but they also are used to distract fans when their team is doing poorly.

The Chicago Bears owner, George Halas admitted to putting dancing girls out on the field to detract the attention away from a losing game. Cathy Core, the Bears cheerleading coach, even admitted to modifying the uniform in order to make them more distracting.

Sometimes, basics work. That was definitely the case in this situation for the San Fransisco 49ers, who changed their uniform in the early ’90s back to their original 1950s design. This assumingly made people feel at least a bit nostalgic.

Instead of wearing outfits with miniskirts and tight-fitting tops, they opted to return to their past with a knee-length, red skirt, with a matching loose sweater. In this game, the 49ers beat the New Orleans Saints, so perhaps it was a good luck charm after all.

No matter what the weather is, cheerleaders have to go out and perform their very best. Whilst this picture isn’t from a particular game, it’s actually from the 72nd Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade held in New York City in 1998. All the cheerleaders had to wear transparent rain ponchos.

It doesn’t matter if it’s sunny, rainy, or snowy — cheerleaders have to bring fun and energy to fans even when they really don’t want to. We commend their ambition and their spirit for wanting to keep us fans entertained in the worst weather conditions.

Whilst the life of a professional cheerleader may look glamorous, with all the traveling and fun that comes with the job, that’s not always the case. For cheerleaders back in the day, the conditions they had to face were even worse.

This picture depicts the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders backstage at the Superbowl XII. However, you’ll be shocked to learn that none of those cheerleaders were paid for their performance. They were told they would only receive wages for home games, and that was only $14.12 for each home game they did.

Even professional cheerleaders nowadays talk about how their job currently isn’t a typical job, but back in the day, going professional was unheard of. It wasn’t until the 1950s when team owners began creating professional cheerleading teams.

Cheerleaders would be selected for professional cheer squads on two main factors — their appearance and their dancing ability. During the 1950s, cheerleaders were only there to bring in male viewers and supporters to games. However, this took a while to catch on with other teams.

It’s hard to deny that cheerleaders have had a major impact on pop culture as we know it. Cheerleaders, especially the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, have gone on to become household names. Plenty of them are featured on a deck of playing cards, and some have even inspired characters in movies and television shows.

Some cheerleaders were even invited onto movie sets themselves to make cameo appearances in films like The Love Boat and Family Feud. The US government also saw how talented these cheerleaders were and recruited some for the USO tours at the request of the Defense Department.

Whilst cheerleading hasn’t really caught on with countries outside of North America, that isn’t to say that there haven’t been cheerleaders in other countries. This photo was taken at the United States Air Forces in Europe Championships in Wembley, London back in 1952.

The 1950s saw a surge in people wanting to become cheerleaders — so much so that former cheerleader Lawrence Herkimer opened a cheerleading education school in Texas in the 1950s. In her first year, she had 52 girls sign up, with another 350 later attending.

If you guessed if this photo was taken in the 1950s, you would be right. This photo depicts cheerleaders in their alternating white and red sweatshirts and long, white skirts during a game against West Virginia in 1959. Despite the fact that this picture is over 60 years old, the quality is stunning.

As most photos from back in the day are in black and white, to see the colors of the uniforms is amazing. It also makes this photo look like it was taken just last year rather than over 60 years ago.

The role of a captain within the cheer squad is very important. Not only will you be held accountable for the mistakes your fellow colleagues make, but all eyes will be on you during the performance. No pressure or anything, though, by the way!

Captains in cheer squads are usually easy to spot due to either a button, sash, or different component that’s attached to their uniform. Incredibly, this photo is actually from 1945 and shows USC cheerleader Betty Brown in her stars and stripes uniform.

We think of cheerleading as a high-intensity and quite a dangerous sport. While girls are being flung into the air and expected to effortlessly land all types of twirls and flips, we expect there to be no danger to them, especially in the case of their uniforms.

This photo was taken of a St. Louis Cardinals cheerleader at Busch Stadium on October 31st, 1976. However, an unusual addition to this uniform is the neck scarf. While gymnastics wouldn’t be introduced into cheerleading until the 1980s, this could be a serious cause for concern due to choking.

From the 1970s, it was well known that being a cheerleader was a great route to becoming one of the most popular girls at school. This period of time really shaped the stereotype of a cheerleader with the theatrics and the miniskirts.

It was also the 1970s that makeup had taken on a prominent role and was being applied more heavily, which we can see in this photo. While their uniform might be a plain black and white one with matching pom-poms, the makeup is a different story, with heavy blush and eye makeup.

Many cheerleaders of the past ended up doing brand deals with a number of different companies. However, the sad truth behind this story is the fact that cheerleaders were often better paid by brands than they were by the teams they worked for.

Cheerleaders back in the day would only end up getting $100 per season, despite being the ones who were drawing in the crowds. Their male counterparts who were playing would get bonuses at the end of each season — and if they won the Superbowl, each got a $10,000 ring.

Despite once being a male-dominated, and male-only sport, cheerleading over the years has become seen as a more feminine activity to do. While the cheer squads we see in colleges and high schools may be more diverse, this photo showed some of the only mixed-gender cheer squads in the country.

This image was captured at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas shows the importance of the men on the cheer squad. These members obviously worked on their heavy lifting abilities to be able to throw these cheerleaders into the air.

Sisterhood was incredibly important to a lot of professional cheerleaders back in the day because of all of the horrible inequalities they were facing surrounding their pay and their uniforms. Many were friends with each other outside of work too.

Dana Presley Killmer, a former Dalla Cowboys cheerleader, said that she would be happy to do it again as it was one of the best experiences of her life. Even after all the trouble she went through in the job, it was the sisterhood that made it all worth it.

As you may expect from a job that puts a lot of focus and pressure on appearance, a lot of cheerleaders from back in the day talk about how they were body-shamed by coaches, owners, and fans. Killmer, who joined the Cowboys in the 1980s, said she was on a list called ‘thighs.’

All cheerleaders were permitted to be weighed and measured before each practice, and if the desired number didn’t show up, you were sent home. There were other lists for girls who needed to lose five or ten pounds.

This picture taken back in 1955 shows a relatively plained clothed pair of cheerleaders, however, we suspect that if the pictures were in color, you would be able to see just how fantastic and colorful their cheerleading uniforms are.

While women are mainly seen to be the most flexible, men play a vital role in the cheerleading squad too. Because they are able to gain muscles quickly, they have the ability to throw girls high in the air so that they can perform tricks and flips to impress the audience.

The Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders are some of the most iconic cheerleaders in history given their sudden and unexpected rebranding in the 1970s. After the debacle at the Super Bowl, their new head, Suzanne Mitchell, made the decision to make their uniforms smaller.

The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders would be dressed in short shorts with front-tie shirts and, of course, a white vest with cowboy boots to tie their look together. Cheerleaders would regularly be weighed and measured, and even today, the uniform hasn’t changed.

You wouldn’t think that cheerleaders could be radical — but in fact, back in the day, they were. While this may look like it’s edited, or even a still from a movie set in high school, we promise that this is very real.

These students from Virginia were putting on a performance for a Life magazine article as a protest against their school being one of the schools in the south closed by state officials while they tried to block court integration orders. We think they did a killer job!

As cheerleading routines in the 1980s became more dance and gymnastics focused, it’s no wonder that over the years, many cheerleading squads have tried to incorporate the iconic lift scene from one of the most popular movies of all time.

While it looks like this shot is taken of a pair creating reenacting the iconic lift scene in Dirty Dancing between Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey, this shot was actually taken at the NCAA finals in 1976 — 11 years before Dirty Dancing was released. Who did it better?

This next vintage picture was taken of an Auburn cheerleader during a game against Alabama in Birmingham in 1971 — 50 years ago this year. If girls ever wanted to get noticed by potential teams to go professional, it was important for them to be full of pep.

However, it was also important that each cheerleader had their own distinct look so that they could be easily identified. These attributes would also be important for the girls that got picked, as two girls with the same identity on the team just wouldn’t work.

As with most things, there are double standards within cheerleading that many former cheerleaders spoke about during their time. They mentioned relationships with footballers in particular. Cheerleaders would often be banned from interacting with players before, during, and after games.

This was often due to the rumors around infidelity. Debbie Kepley, a former Dallas Cowboy cheerleader, stated that many of the players were cheating on their partners with cheerleaders. However, if they were found out, the cheerleader took the blame instead of the player.

This photo really shows the determination and the strength that some cheerleaders had back in the day. Having the ability to hold a whole other person on top of your shoulders without holding onto them is a massive achievement for both cheerleaders in this situation.

These cheerleaders are part of the University of Georgia Bulldogs, and while we can’t see the colors due to the black and white picture, most cheerleading uniforms focused on white and another bright color for the female cheerleaders, and one color for the males.

This picture is of a Denver Broncos cheerleader. It’s quite obvious how the radical overhaul of the Dallas Cowboys uniform had an impact on every other cheer squad. After all, the uniform is part of what draws audiences in.

This cheerleader has the same cropped waistcoat that can be seen on the Dallas Cowboys, along with tassels and sequins. This uniform also comes with tasseled cuffs and voluminous red pompoms. While it may not be as racy, it’s still a fantastic uniform!

Looking at the New Utrecht High School cheerleader uniforms today, you would never believe that their vintage counterparts would be so similar. This photo was taken in 1957 and while miniskirts were frowned upon in those times, these girls still rocked them!

They have paired the signature loose jumper, however instead of a long, mid-length pleated skirt, this uniform features a light-colored miniskirt. This set the way for the new style of uniforms in later decades so that cheerleaders felt more comfortable in them.

While cheerleaders weren’t allowed to interact with players in case of infidelity rumors, that doesn’t mean they can’t get excited and show their support from the sidelines. This photo of a Louisiana State cheerleader from 1958 getting excited during a game against Mississippi proves just that.

While looking through old, vintage photos of cheerleaders, it isn’t uncommon to find pictures of cheerleaders either overjoyed at their team winning, or looking on through teary eyes as they suffer a loss. They could be worrying about the future of their work, too!

This photo is evidently from the 1980s. You cannot look at the hairstyle like that and not automatically think of the ’80s! This photo of the Los Angeles Rams cheerleader was taken in 1987 and shows the natural beauty that cheerleaders usually embody.

While cheerleaders in the 1950s were meant to look innocent, by the time the 1990s came around, cheerleaders were expected to apply a full face of makeup for their performances. As this picture was taken just before the ’90s, this cheerleader opted for a natural, subtle look.

After it was decided in 1974 that cheerleading was, in fact, not a sport, Jeff Webb established the Universal Cheerleaders Association. It aimed to make cheerleading more stunt-based and athletic. It was also to deter girls from flocking to other sports.

Back when this picture was taken in 1958, cheerleading wasn’t classed as a sport. However, by 1975, over 500,000 people would be cheerleading. Most of these would mostly be women as the sport became more directed at enticing male audiences to games.

Due to the activities we see modern cheerleaders do, such as flips and acrobatics, it’s not wild to assume that cheerleading is actually quite a dangerous sport. Sometimes the stunts that some cheerleaders pull can be absolutely brutal.

In 2006, a cheerleader fell from the top of the pyramid at Southern Illinois University and ended up breaking her vertebrae, bruising her lung, and suffered a concussion. However, she still carried on performing while being carried away in a stretcher. What a team player!

These are some of the most amazing cheerleading uniforms that we’ve ever seen! This photo of the Louisiana State University tiger and cheerleaders was taken in 1959 after their victory over Rice University. And while that’s an exciting feat, we just can’t stop looking at those uniforms.

Not only were these outfits so ahead of their time by featuring a miniskirt, but they were also made from a gold material and featured a cape. These cheerleaders must have really felt like superheroes whilst showing off their practiced routines.

It looks like training to become a cheerleader was not for the faint-hearted. This picture from the 1960s shows squad training under Bill Horan, who was an infamous cheerleading coach and also ran the American Cheerleaders Association.

These legendary sessions taught by Horan had the girls acting like soldiers in a marine boot camp. He would keep them under strict control and lead with an iron fist. Horan once said they keep the girls off balance so they’re always on their toes with him.

Many of those who used to cheer in the 1980s and 1990s have spoken about the weird rules they had to live by. While they may have been forced to dress provocatively during their performances, they were expected to act prude in their personal lives.

This was because managers wanted to make the cheerleaders seem unattainable. Some of these wacky rules included not being allowed to chew gum, they weren’t allowed to wear blue jeans, or even drink in public. These days, this would definitely be going to court.

This photo looks like it could have been taken yesterday. Instead, this photo is actually taken in 1988. It shows cheerleaders for the Los Angeles Lakers doing their routine during a game versus the Denver Nuggets in Los Angeles.

As these are basketball cheerleaders rather than football cheerleaders, the uniforms will vary drastically. Instead of wearing revealing clothes in an attempt to entice male audiences, these women are wearing loose-fitting t-shirts and athletic shorts, which are perfect for their intended use.

Above all, while cheerleaders did endure tough conditions back in the day, their actions helped to pave a fairer and more balanced life for professional cheerleaders today. Cheerleaders nowadays won’t have to pay for their own uniform or travel like they used to.

While it may not be an easy job, it’s definitely one that many people love and will have fond memories of. These vintage photos have shown us how different trends during the decades inspired how the uniforms looked, and have made us all quite nostalgic!