UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday, February 10, 1993
11
The Crimson Girls
At left, freshman Candice Franklin teaches a floor routine during practice at Robinson Center. The squad practices for two hours every other day.
Below, junior co-captain Nikki Julian cheers in front of the new 9 foot by 12 foot flag. The flag was unveiled at the Kansas-Missouri men's basketball game.
Photographs by Daron J. Bennett Stories by Mark Button
Senior Sharon Zambri, left, and freshman Julie Hammond perform the squad's national competition routine. The Crimson Girls finished second at nationals in Dallas.
H
ow many Crimson Girls does it take to screw in a light bulb?
Jokes like this typify many people's thoughts of the intelligence of cheerleaders.
Traditionally, cheerleaders have been the "pretty" girls of the school, and somewhere along the line the idea of being pretty and being dumb became one and the same.
Shannon Hull, a second-year member of the Crimson Girls, said she understood the stereotypes that people had of others.
"People are quick to judge anyone in the public scrutiny, especially females." Hull said.
Debbie Adams, senior and co-captain of the Crimson Girls, said that since the girls were highly visible, people were going to have their opinions on what they were like. People continually judge people on what they are, not who they are, she said.
"People see cute girls dancing around in short skirts, but they don't know the people in the skirts," Adams said. Elaine Brady, spirit squad coordinator, came to Lawrence in 1883. She said that the trend for cheerleaders at that time were the small gymnastic look. The look had
changed from the tall, long-legged girls of her time as a cheerleader at Wichita State University. She said that other universities had dealt with the trend by having a separate dance, or "pom," squad. She decided to do the same. In 1985, she started the Crimson Girls.
The Crimson Girls, who took second in the 1993 National Cheerleader Association Collegiate Pom and Dance National Championship, said they had a right to be frustrated with the myths and stereotypes. The cumulative grade point average of the 11 girls is 3.17. Seven of the 11 have better than a 3.0. Those seven were honored at half-time of the Kansas-Long State men's basketball game as Jawhawk Scholars.
By comparison, the men's basketball team had two Jayhawk Scholars out of its 13 members, and the football
Many would say that to compare cheerleaders to athletes is unfair because athletes spend a majority of their time practicing or performing.
But the Crimson Girls are athletes, they said. They hold practice as often as most of the athletic teams at Kansas. Last semester they practiced for two hours every day of
Story continues on Page 14.
Above, Candice Franklin explains choreography to sophomore Stacy Sill. At right, junior Kristina Gooding, left, and senior co-captain Debbie Adams dance at practice. The Crimson Girls were working on a dance set to music from "West Side Story."
Debbie Adams relaxes at home after class. Adams is taking 20 hours this spring. She will graduate in May and has been offered a job with a dance company in New York.
Co-captain dances from Spain to NYC
You can see Debbie Adams at all the men's home basket ball games, but you might not see her anywhere else.
Adams is the co-captain of the Crimson Girls and in her fourth year on the squad. In the midst of her spirit-squad duties, including practicing for two-hours every other day, instructing young girls in the Junior Hawkettie program and dancing at each men's home basketball game, she is taking 20 hours of classes and hoping to maintain her 3.3 grade point average.
If she survives this semester, she will graduate in May with a degree in English
Freshman Crimson GirlJulie Hammond said she benefited from Adams' experience.
"She is a strong leader," she said. "She is supportive in helping us with weak points and tactful with her criticism."
Libby Adams, Debbie's mother, said her daughter's people skills and ability to stay organized made her a leader. She said that her daughter began taking tumbling and gymnastic classes at the age of four. The Adams' residence was conveniently located around the corner from a dance studio, so she had an early start in dance as well.
Having danced her way to junior high and high school, Adams came to the University of Kansas in Fall 1989 and was one of only two freshmen to make the squad. Adams said about 200 women tried out.
In the next three years, she spent hundreds of hours practicing and performing with the group. However, she would soon find that her hours of perspiration would pay off greater than she ever would have expected.
In February 1992, Adams and five other spirit squad members flew to Chicago to try out for the closing ceremony of the 1992 Summer Olympics. In April, she received a phone call from Chris Harrison, the director of Anti-Gravity, a professional dance group in New York Harrison had gotten Adams' name from David Bell, the Olympic ceremonies director and choreographer.
Harrison offered her a job dancing with the group at Radio City Music Hall after graduation, and she accepted. A few days after hearing from Harrison, Adams received another phone call. It was the Olympic committee informing her that out of 1,600 applicants, she was one of 50 dancers selected for the ceremony in Barcelona, Spain.
"It was the most incredible experience of my life," Adams said.