Monday, May 28, 2012

Pom Pom Girl



 I absolutely loved growing up in my hometown of Friendly, Maryland. I lived on Old Allentown Road, the road to take if you were going any place important. It took me upon my bicycle each morning to Friendly Sr. High School, home of the best football team in the county, The Patriots. We were the Bicentennial Class of 76, our school colors; red, white, and blue.


Fridays in the fall were my very favorite days at school when we would be dismissed early to attend home games. I loved everything about Fridays from buying my ticket at lunch to sitting in the stands as close to the Pep Squad as I could. I wanted so badly to join, but this was the last chance group, and I did not want to be a last chance girl.


 I would look longingly at the uniforms of the Pom Pom Girls. These were the most popular and attractive girls in school. They wore short navy blue sleeveless shifts, white short boots with red tassels, and carried over sized red pom poms. They were the Size 5 girls.


There were also the cheerleaders, the band, and leading everyone, our Majorette, Bonnie. She had the straightest, most beautiful honey-colored hair that hung below her waist. She had such a beautiful face. Bonnie was also very heavy through her waist. At each football game she would lead the band in her red sequined costume not at all bothered by her rather egg shaped body and skinny legs. She was a magnificent twirler never missing her high toss. She smiled so beautifully despite taunts from the boys in the crowd about her shape.


Watching Bonnie on Fridays changed my life. If she could be confident enough to present herself in front of an entire school in a leotard, I could muster the courage to join the Pep Squad. I signed the join-up sheet and wrote Size 11 by my name. This was the group for size 11's. Our uniform was a twisty twirl red skirt to the knees, a navy blue sleeveless vest, a white button down shirt, white knee socks, and saddle shoes.

 
I was never so happy than on Fridays. Our school won the State Championship, I was there in my uniform. I thank Bonnie for this.


WISHING YOU A VERY HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!


17 comments:

  1. Oh my land! I love those peg dolls, E! I was the Bicentennial Class of '76 too! We all hail from Richfield High! For the Spartans we do cheer! We had Liberty Bell charms on our grad tassels, our colors were red and white, you were lucky to have blue too! The good ol' days...

    Tammy

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  2. As I read your post I remembered my days in high school also looking longingly at those gorgeous girls who got to wear cute outfits and cheer with the biggest set of pom poms I have ever seen. Black and Gold were our colors-

    Wow I am so proud of you for signing up for cheer squad- we didn't have anything like that. The bravest thing that I did in those days was sing a duet with a friend for "musical explosion" a huge event. They had these really cute girls wearing short shorts with tuxedo shirts and between acts they spot light would shine on them and they would be holding a sign stating the next act or such. All the guys would whistle-

    bee blessed
    mary

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  3. We need a "Like" button for this post. :-)

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  4. What wonderful memories. I grew up in a small town with lots of school pride and have great memories of ball games, too! Love your sweet pom pom girls! You have the talent to turn your memories into art!

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  5. We called the cheer leaders...bow heads. They always had such perky big bows tied in their high ponytails. Having a mother who was the prom queen, head cheerleader, and Miss Congeniality was a lofty goal to live with. I am my father's daughter and found only boredom in my mother's footsteps. Miss Bonnie brought you exactly what you needed...what a wonderful peg doll with curls to boot....smiles...Renee

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  6. Bonnie sounds like a lovely person, a good role model even when she didn't know who was watching her so closely.
    It was an exciting year for you to join the pep squad!

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  7. What a blessing Bonnie was to you!! ;) Such sweet Pom Pom girls!! Happy Memorial Day!! xo Heather

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  8. Your pin dolls are so cute!! Hope your Memorial Day was memorable!!

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  9. Love the "cheer dolls"!! In reading the other comments, it sounds like most schools had the "cute" girls! We called them "GEE Girls"...always smiling! No cheerleading for me, I was a swimmer..no team for the girls in 1975, we swam with the boys...Oh, High School!!

    chris

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  10. Love the "cheer dolls"!! In reading the other comments, it sounds like most schools had the "cute" girls! We called them "GEE Girls"...always smiling! No cheerleading for me, I was a swimmer..no team for the girls in 1975, we swam with the boys...Oh, High School!!

    chris

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  11. What a wonderful peg doll with happy yellow hair. Love your happy story too.

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  12. Hurray for Brave Bonnie and Encouraged E! ♥

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  13. Love this peg doll. iwas a majorette in high school. I wish we had outfits like this. Ours had super sper short shorts. Yikes.
    High schools memories are somthing, aren't they.

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  14. I was in Pep Club...we marched during half-time at all the home games. We had all-sizes of girls and everyone seemed to have a good time. I'm happy to have been able to have that experience because I was always very shy.

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