OFFICIAL BIRTH DATE OF ORGANIZED CHEERLEADING – NOV. 2, 1898 World’s first cheerleader Johnny Campbell – University of Minnesota Organized cheerleading started out as an all-male activity. In 1898, University of Minnesota student Johnny Campbell directed a crowd in cheering “Rah, Rah, Rah! Ski-u-mah, Hoo-Rah! Hoo-Rah! Varsity! Varsity! Varsity, Minn-e-So-Tah!”, making Campbell the very first cheerleader and November 2, 1898 the official birth date of organized cheerleading. Soon after, the University of Minnesota organized a “yell leader” squad of 6 male students, who still use Campbell’s original cheer. In 1903 the first cheerleading fraternity, Gamma Sigma was founded. In 1923, women joined cheerleading and began to dominate the sport in World War II when few men were involved in organized sports. At this time, there were no collegiate sports for women but women were allowed to participate in cheering squads. At this time, gymnastics, tumbling, and megaphones were incorporated into popular cheers, and are still used. Today, estimates show that 97% of cheerleading participants overall are female. However, at the collegiate level cheerleading is a co-ed sport with 50% of participants being male. [Source]  University of Minnesota Rooter Kings circa 1930s – Photograph via University of Minnesota HAILE SELASSIE CROWNED EMPEROR OF ETHIOPIA – NOV. 2, 1930 Photograph by American Colony (Jerusalem). Photo Dept., photographer c 1923 Haile Selassie I (23 July 1892 – 27 August 1975), born Tafari Makonnen, was Ethiopia’s regent from 1916 to 1930 and Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He was the heir to a dynasty that traced its origins to the 13th century, and from there by tradition back to King Solomon and Queen Makeda, Empress of Axum, known in the Abrahamic tradition as the Queen of Sheba. Haile Selassie is a defining figure in both Ethiopian and African history. At the League of Nations in 1936, the Emperor condemned the use of chemical weapons by Italy against his people. His internationalist views led to Ethiopia becoming a charter member of the United Nations, and his political thought and experience in promoting multilateralism and collective security have proved seminal and enduring. His suppression of rebellions among the nobles (mekwannint), as well as what some perceived to be Ethiopia’s failure to modernize adequately, earned him criticism among some contemporaries and historians. Haile Selassie is revered as the returned Messiah of the Bible, God incarnate, among the Rastafari movement, the number of followers of which is estimated between 200,000 and 800,000. Begun in Jamaica in the 1930s, the Rastafari movement perceives Haile Selassie as a messianic figure who will lead a future golden age of eternal peace, righteousness, and prosperity. He himself remained an Ethiopian Orthodox Christian throughout his life. [Source]  AMERICAN QUIZ SHOWS SCANDALS OF 1950s – NOV. 2, 1959 The American quiz show scandals of the 1950s were a series of revelations that contestants of several popular television quiz shows were secretly given assistance by the show’s producers to arrange the outcome of a supposedly fair competition. The 1950s proved a boon for television as it burst into the mainstream. While at the beginning of the decade only 9% of U.S. households had a television, over half had one by 1954 – and 86% had them by the end of the decade. The medium proved to be a powerful influence on American society. Over the same period, the United States was engaged in a technology race with the Soviet Union, as a consequence of the Cold War. American military and political dominance was bolstered by the nation’s technologies that harnessed the power of the atom. This focus on technological superiority contributed to a national reverence of intelligence and knowledge. It was against this backdrop that quiz shows became popular. Questions asked on these shows required substantial knowledge across a broad spectrum of topics. The spectacle of people achieving huge financial success through the exercise of brain power was riveting to a nation that revered intellectualism as well as wealth. [Source]  Photograph by ORLANDO FERNANDEZ Herb Stempel was a contestant on Twenty-One who was coached by the show’s producer Dan Enright. After achieving a score of $69,500, Stempel’s scripted loss to the more popular Charles Van Doren occurred on December 5, 1956. One of the questions Stempel got wrong involved the winner of the 1955 Academy Award for Best Motion Picture. (The correct answer was Marty, one of Stempel’s favorite movies; as instructed by Enright, Stempel gave the incorrect answer On the Waterfront.) After his preordained loss, Stempel spoke out against the operation, claiming that he deliberately lost the match against Van Doren on orders from Enright. Initially, Stempel was dismissed as a sore loser and it wasn’t until August 1958 that his credibility was bolstered. Ed Hilgemeyer, a contestant on Dotto, announced that he had found a notebook containing the very answers contestant Marie Winn was delivering on stage. But the final stroke came from Twenty-One contestant James Snodgrass, who had sent registered letters to himself containing the advance answers. Such evidence was irrefutable. It eventually emerged that Twenty-One’s debut on September 12, 1956 had gone so badly that sponsor Geritol called producers Barry and Enright the following day and demanded changes. Under pressure, Enright and his partner Albert Freedman decided to rig the show. Jack Barry, the show’s host and co-owner of Barry-Enright Productions, was not involved in the actual rigging, but later helped in the cover-up. [Source]  Photograph by NBC Television—Hulton Archive/Getty Images The son of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and literary critic/teacher Mark Van Doren and novelist and writer Dorothy Van Doren, and nephew of critic and Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Carl Van Doren, Charles Van Doren was a committed academic with an unusually broad range of interests. He graduated from The High School of Music & Art and then earned a B.A. degree in Liberal Arts (1946) from St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland, as well as a master’s degree in astrophysics (1949) and a doctorate in English (1955), both at Columbia University. He was also a student at Cambridge University in England. In January 1957, Van Doren entered a winning streak that ultimately earned him more than $129,000 (more than $1 million in 2009 dollars) and made him famous, including an appearance on the cover of TIME on February 11, 1957. When allegations of cheating were first raised, by Stempel and others, Van Doren denied any wrongdoing, saying “It’s silly and distressing to think that people don’t have more faith in quiz shows.” But on November 2, 1959, he admitted to the House Subcommittee on Legislative Oversight, a United States Congress subcommittee, chaired by Arkansas Democrat Oren Harris, that he had been given questions and answers in advance of the show. I was involved, deeply involved, in a deception. The fact that I, too, was very much deceived cannot keep me from being the principal victim of that deception, because I was its principal symbol. There may be a kind of justice in that. I don't know. I do know, and I can say it proudly to this committee, that since Friday, October 16, when I finally came to a full understanding of what I had done and of what I must do, I have taken a number of steps toward trying to make up for it. I have a long way to go. I have deceived my friends, and I had millions of them. Whatever their feeling for me now, my affection for them is stronger today than ever before. I am making this statement because of them. I hope my being here will serve them well and lastingly.  PRESIDENT REAGAN SIGNS BILL CREATING MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DAY |
HISTORY’S GREATEST MUSTACHE Photograph by MATTHEW BRADY  Photograph by MATTHEW BRADY & LEVIN CORBIN HANDY Hogan. Selleck. Chaplin. All magnificent mustaches. All pale in comparison to Ambrose Everett Burnside (May 23, 1824 – September 13, 1881), history’s greatest mustache. If the pictures above haven’t already made that abundantly clear, then the simple fact that the term ‘sideburns’ is derived from his last name should eradicate any fleeting objections. Need more? Burnside was a Union Army General, Railroad Executive, Inventor, Industrialist, the first president of the N.R.A, and a Governor and U.S Senator for Rhode Island. In celebration of Movember, the Sifter would like to salute the late, great Ambrose Everett Burnside, your epic facial hair is a gift to us all. Bless you. [Source] MOVEMBER During November each year, Movember is responsible for the sprouting of moustaches on thousands of men's faces, in Canada and around the world. With their "Mo's", these men raise vital funds and awareness for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer. Since its humble beginnings in Melbourne Australia, Movember has grown to become a truly global movement inspiring more than 1.1 Million Mo Bros and Mo Sistas to participate, with formal campaigns in Australia, New Zealand, the US, Canada, the UK, Finland, the Netherlands, Spain, South Africa and Ireland. In addition, Movember is aware of Mo Bros and Mo Sistas supporting the campaign and men's health cause across the globe, from Russia to Dubai, Hong Kong to Antarctica, Rio de Janeiro to Mumbai, and everywhere in between. [Source] via Wikipedia |
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