Winston Salem States Original Cheer Phi

By Wannette Fripp

When I first heard about the iconic Winston Salem State University Cheerleaders I was a senior in high school trying to decide which HBCU I was going to attend in North Carolina. My cousin, Tammy Manning, was attending Cheyney University in PA so I had already been exposed to the culture, sororities and fraternities, nostalgia and campus life.

Everyone at my high school was going to NC A&T so I decided against it. I heard about NCCU and even went to visit their school. I saw their cheerleaders and spoke with the coach who was very nice but their cheerleaders didnt seem to move me. I was shown a WSSU yearbook and told that if I wanted to cheer in college I needed to attend WSSU because their cheerleaders were the best in the CIAA. I didnt even know what the CIAA was but I was sold, especially with such an enthusiastic endorsement from the guys we knew who attended Winston. I decided on WSSU sight unseen.

I experienced peaks and valleys while cheering at WSSU. I was able to travel to other CIAA schools and witness their diverse cheerleading styles. As well as participate in Classics and tournaments that took me to places like Atlanta Georgia for the first time. I experienced the vibrancy of the city and its people when spectators came out of the stands and Bankhead bounced and danced with us while we cheered. At my school in our day we were the show and people came to the games football and basketball just to see us. We were show stoppers!

I am grateful to have been honored and blessed to be a part of this wonderful program and legacy. I have experienced once in a lifetime events being a WSSU cheerleader and being a part of this legacy only fueled my passion for the sport and pursuit of it through business endeavors. We have never strived to be like anyone elses program. They have always admired WSSU and strived to be like us.

Our mark that was made on the sport of cheerleading has continued to spread all over the country from our signature Cheer Phi, shaking popping and rolling, up-stomping and down stomping, ad libs and overall style throughout the country thanks to the internet and alumni cheerleaders. We have often been imitated but never duplicated. We are cheerleading. We are HBCU Cheerleading. We are WSSU.

I now own my own cheerleading company and have put on several high school and college showcases and competitions in Raleigh and Winston Salem NC 2007-2008, hosted the 2010 CIAA Cheerleading Exhibition in Charlotte NC, as well as planning for the HBCU National Televised Cheerleading Championships for 2012 in Atlanta GA. This event will inspire more youth in our community to be a part of the sport of cheerleading and encourage them to do so at our HBCUs.

Email This Article^[7]