Cheerleading Pyramid Scandal Rocks Texas Town

Members of a Texas high school cheerleading squad are facing possible suspensions after they disrobed and created a nude human pyramid during the half-time of a football game. Their lawyer says the girls shouldn't be punished for doing what cheerleaders do all the time.

Watching the performance was 'torture,' says one outraged football fan

By Cole Walters, Education Correspondent

FORT WORTH, Tex.—Twelve members of the North Hill High School cheerleading squad are facing suspensions and may be barred from attending the senior prom after they disrobed and created a nude human pyramid during the half-time performance of a football game. Their actions have scandalized their school, and have triggered soul searching within the cheerleading community about the growing practice of nude pyramid building.

The Crusaders vs. the Rebels
Once a season, the football field at North Hill High School is home to an epic battle: the Crusaders of North Hill High vs. the Midland High School Rebels. The rivalry is intense, the history bitter. Members of the North Hill cheerleading squad say that in planning their halftime performance, they wanted to give the rebels an image they'd never forget.

"We were trying to decide what to do to really teach the Rebels a lesson," says cheerleader Ashley Johnson. "Something dramatic, like a deadman," says Johnson, referring to difficult stunt in which a cheerleader flies through the air and is caught by three or four of her team members. "And we definitely wanted to attack the crowd," she says, describing the chants and cheers used to get the audience on its feet.

Get on your knees and pray
When the Crusaders took the field at half-time, the audience knew it was in for some fireworks. The Crusaders have won state and regional championships, and are known for executing their moves with military precision. The Rebels had chosen the battle with the Crusaders to debut a new cheer:

What do you do to a Crusader you meet?
You get down on your knees,
you can't pray on your feet
You ask a mighty Crusader for his mercy to give,
and maybe, just maybe (2 claps) he'll let you live!

The 12 girls ran through the cheer twice, as Crusader fans rose to their feet, applauding wildly. Then, a fateful decision: before the crowd seemed to realize what had happened, the cheerleaders had removed their skirts and monogrammed sweaters, their sport bras and undergarments known as "spankies," and formed a pyramid, a traditional cheering formation in which young women—and the occasional young man—create a human base that gradually narrows until a single cheerleader stands atop the stack.

Is it torture?
Naomi Shelton has been attending battles between the Crusaders and the Rebels for the past 15 years, and was in the crowd that night. "I was shocked to see naked bodies piled up that way. I never want to see anything like that again," says Shelton. "You want to see the Crusaders beat the Rebels but watching that performance was absolute torture."

The lawyer for the North Hill cheerleading squad, Guy Womack, has launched a spirited defense of his clients' conduct, arguing that their bare half-time performance is no different from what squads across the country do regularly. "Don't cheerleaders all over America form pyramids six to eight times a year? Is that torture?"

Support our troupes
For their part, members of the Crusaders squad say that their captain, Lori Leydon, was the brains behind the nude pyramid performance. So badly did Leydon want to humiliate the Rebels, say her fellow cheerleaders, that she abandoned standard cheerleading protocol. "She said she'd gotten the idea from TV," says Kerri Pacheco. "She said it was a totally valid thing to do since we were taking on the Rebels."

Captain Leydon isn't talking; North Hill High School officials say that Leydon may face stronger sanctions than the other cheerleaders since she appears to have been the ringleader of the halftime scandal.

A dishonored corps
The nude pyramid scandal is far from the first incident to cast a dark stain on the honor of America's cheerleaders. Late last year, members of the Danvers, MA cheerleading squad were arrested after they appeared at a football game too drunk to perform, and cursed out school officials before being hauled off the field. Just days later, a racy video in which one nearly nude member of the cheer squad was seen kissing the breasts of another cheerleader, began circulating on the digital devices of fellow students.

In 2003, a member of a Decatur, TX cheerleading squad shot a rival from Bridgeport, TX in the buttocks with a paintball gun. When confronted by police, the shooter confessed and accepted responsibility. Both cheerleaders were then banned from cheering at the big Decatur vs. Bridgeport game. Decatur won the game, 35-14.

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Comments

[Tim Riley]

Its now 08 this is not about rights this is about decent responsible behavior by a group of young Ladies you have to draw the line some place instead of having something that is fun and interesting to watch you now have a group of girls who are basically putting on a peep show this does not show School spirt or even Team spirt just alack of modesty

[Holly]

These girls are getting off easy. In my days in high school back in the mid-90's we would have all been carted back into the school and paddled by the principal. Back in those days the board of education was a wooden paddle used frequently by the principal on both boys and girls. Now the board of education is a bunch of softies afraid to hand out any discipline whatsoever.

[Kevin Shaw]

I may be British but as I remember the 1st amendment i
of your constitution entrenches freedom o expression which as I see includes the right to cheer in th nude if you think about it . So therefore tbhe Al quidaesque Southern Baptists are in breach olf the constitution as is the judge .

[Kotico]

As yet no one has seen a picture so it kinda hard to believe

[ade]

Values are gone low in America, there should be a rethink just like mails can now opened without a warrant why cant America be conservative for once on lewdness and nudity in public places

[MIchael]

Hehe. Sounds like a fun high school!!

[owlesun]

uh guys? I think this was a sarcastic piece pointing out the ridiculousness of the soldiers making the prisoners of war build nude human pyramids and taking their pics. Did you not catch this?

[Mark]

I do not believe this happened....first no regular season football games are played in January, second the only Midland Rebels I can locate in TX are in Midland TX, actually Midland Lee Rebels and are not in the same conference as any Forth Worth area teams (the report is out of Forth Worth).
Third, I can not find any reference to a North Hill or North Hills Crusaders team.

[Luke Rook]

Just need to correct that last post for those who do not know the story well enough to realize the lack of editing. First of all, it is Canaan who is Ham's son, and Cane is spelled Cain, as in Cain and Abel. Furthermore, the clans of Noah are supposed to be descendants of Adam and Eve, but what I am suggesting is that at that time there was no actual relation between those clans and the other clans of the world that propegated the human species from one singular Arab race. I am also suggesting that being ashamed of nakedness was not necessarily a moral weakness shared by all of the rest of the world.

[Luke Rook]

The clan of Adam and Eve has a long history of shunning nakedness, but I doubt any of these cheerleaders are actually descendants of the clans of the middle east. While Noah was enslaving Cane's descendants because Cane's father Ham thought it was funny when Noah got drunk and naked us white folks were probably slipping out of our bearskins to skinny-dip together without shame in what is now modern day Europe.

[Bob Merkin]

grrrr The Boston Herald wants $$$ for its archived story about the drunk Danvers MA cheerleaders ... anybody have a copy? Also Herald (I don't think the Globe deemed these stories worthy or appropriate) story about this squad's subsequent topless erotic cheerleader video. (Also copy of video if available.)

Meanwhile, moi blog

News, Weather & Sports from Vleeptron

has stopped emphasizing VIRGINS!!! and will now feature CHEERLEADERS!!! Clearly this site will be an important resource, and we are very grateful.

[dave]

show me pics! I need proof!

[Bob]

I don't believe it really happened. Does anyone have a picture to prove it?

[Vic Ashe]

Just like they did it at Andover

http://cheerleading.about.com/library/graphics/cheerldr_puzzle.jpg

[Jeb]

Okay, I need to see pictures of the actual incident.