With football season underway, five ladies who cheered on Verbena teams in the 1950s met last week to share their memories. Beverly Burkhalter Wingard, Undyne Fortner Mattingly, Juanita Patterson Payton, Drucilla Fortner Todd and Betty McGalliard Davis were cheerleaders during the years when Verbena High had its famed 50-game winning streak.

Undyne Mattingly remembered that when she became cheerleader her senior year, students simply voted for their favorites, but three years later, Betty Davis and Drucilla Todd had to try out by doing a solo cheer in front of the student body with faculty members able to disqualify any “winners” whose grades or conduct were not acceptable.

Both cheerleaders and players had to provide their own transportation to away games. Betty Davis said that the local business owners strongly supported the team and often transported players while parents and others made sure the girls had rides. In general, community enthusiasm and support grew even stronger as the team won championships.

“The community raised the money to light the field. Our mamas and many other ladies cooked and sold chicken dinners to make that money,” Juanita Payton said.

In early years, cheerleaders had to buy their own uniforms, but by the mid-1950s the ladies had fond memories of the nice white sweaters and blue gabardine skirts with red linings provided for them. Today’s cheerleaders would be dismayed by those long skirts!

One of the ladies commented, “We liked to twirl because that was the only way you could see our legs.” Some of the cheers they remembered including this quaint one: “Razzle dazzle, frizzle, frazzle, everything is wool. Altogether, altogether, that’s the way we pull.”

Drucilla Todd said Coach J.R. Porch had a hard and fast rule of no cheering when Verbena had the ball. One job of the cheerleaders was to quiet the crowd so the team could hear the signals.

Their cheers and stunts may have been simpler than today’s, but they worked hard to learn. They practiced during their physical education time and had fond memories of going to cheer camp in Tuscaloosa each summer. Their sponsor, Mrs. Arah Stanley, made sure they were able to go. She was firm but generous, often entertaining the girls in her home.

Cheerleaders no longer led cheers when the football season ended. There was no gym, but, by the 1950s, according to Betty Davis, Coach Porch had basketball goals put up in the auditorium. Games were played there, but there wasn’t enough room for cheerleaders. Since there was no prom back then, the football banquet was the highlight of the social season with cheerleaders helping prepare for it.

When asked for a least favorite memory, Drucilla Todd immediately said “the loss to Eclectic!” This game in 1955 ended Verbena’s winning streak. All agreed they enjoyed their cheerleader days.

“We loved it because our whole lives revolved around school. Daddy wouldn’t let me go anywhere much, and if I did, I had to be home by 10 p.m,” said Beverly Wingard.

–Ola Taylor is a Community Correspondent for The Clanton Advertiser. She can be reached at olataylor@gmail.com.