An All-Girls Institution
Over 75 Years of Texas Tradition
Until the Boys Came Along
BREAKING
TRADITION
by Shonda Smith Tindall
SCROLL
When Gussie Nell Davis founded the first dance drill team in 1929, she changed the game of Texas football forever. Halftime was no longer just for the young men in the band; the young ladies now had their time to shine. As decades passed, the dance drill team only grew bigger. The high kicks got higher, the lipstick got brighter, and as Davis once said, “The skirts have gotten shorter and shorter and shorter.”
​
But, one thing has changed Davis probably would not have predicted. With the rise of LBGTQ rights activism, more young gay men have come forward in the last five years to tryout for female-dominated drill teams. Willing to take on hecklers and naysayers in the stands and elsewhere, these men are becoming the game-changers.
POISE AND PERFECTION
The First Ladies of Halftime
During the 1920s, pep squads were commonly found throughout much of Texas. They were primarily comprised of young women, but some had a few spirited young men from the ranks of the R.O.T.C. participate. After the end of the Great Depression, people were looking for ways to renew personal spirit and enthusiasm.
That’s when two women from opposite parts of the state would change the face of pep squads and transform them into what are now referred to as drill team. Each carved their own identity in the groups they directed without ever having crossed paths until several decades later. These all-women organizations combined precision performance moves found in military drill teams with dance sequences. The women who participated had to possess poise, confidence, and excellent social skills. One of the women who led the transformation was Gussie Nell Davis, who returned from college at UCLA to teach physical education and sponsor the pep squad at Greenville High School in Greenville, Texas.
The first year, the squad did stunts, chants, and a bit of marching. The second year, the squad expanded its marching drills and even did a pigeon release on the field at a halftime. A turning point came in 1940, when Davis she was hired by Kilgore College to organize a group of young women to
The Kilgore College Rangerettes performing during the inauguration festivities of President-elect Dwight D. Eisenhower in January 1953. Photo by Hank Walker
The Kilgore College Rangerettes perform during the pre-game show before the 2014 Goodyear Cotton Bowl at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Photo by Ashley Landis.
perform at the halftimes of college football games. And thus, the world-famous Kilgore College Rangerettes were born.
During her 40 years as director, Davis and her 65-member squad traveled over a million miles representing the United States and Texas in South America, the Far East and other points on the globe. The Rangerettes have been featured at many football bowl games, on national television, in movies, and on hundreds of magazine covers. Davis definitely earned the moniker "First Lady of Drill Team."
In the early 1930s, over 700 miles away in the Rio Grande Valley, lived Kay Teer, a born leader who as easily elected as cheerleader in 1930 from a field of over 60 candidates at Edinburg High School. She was sad for the women who did not make the squad, as she knew they were just as eager to support the team as she was. She successfully persuaded the principal to allow the other young women to form a group to go out on the field at halftime and be a part of school spirit. After graduation from the University of Mary
Hardin Baylor, Teer returned to her alma mater to direct the Red and Blue Sergeanettes. They marched on the field with a “military swing” style in Army-style uniforms with skirts.
Precision dance did not stay exclusive to Texas for long. Toward the end of the 1940s, there were drill teams throughout Louisiana, Oklahoma, Kansas, California and Iowa. It continued to spread in popularity throughout the Midwest, including Missouri, Ohio, Illinois and Indiana, and further west in Washington.
Following World War II, the nation looked to reunify people and halftime shows were an added bonus when the men came back from the war. Drill team was not only here to stay, but had become a new national venue that helped young women create an identity.
If you can't be the best, you should get out. We haven't lost a halftime in 20 years.
Gussie Nell Davis
Dallas Morning News in 1958
"THERE'S A BOY ON THAT DRILL TEAM?"
- A 2010 headline featured in the Dallas Morning News
The first published account of a male drill team member was in 2010 when John F. Rhodes, a special contributor and photographer for the Dallas Morning News, spotted Brinton Munoz as he took the field to perform with the Mesquite Poteet High School Varsity Belles. However, Munoz was not the first in Mesquite to be on a drill team in the district.
​
In 2009, Davion Rivers was a member of the West Mesquite High School Lariettes. He had planned on auditioning the previous year, but was kicked out of tryouts. The following year he approached the new drill team director, who was aware of what happened to him the year before, and enthusiastically gave him an application to tryout.
​
It would be several years before more young men in Mesquite would step forward to tryout. But Rivers and Munoz left a lasting impact that would give strength to those who came after them, specifically Adrian Salas.
Adrian's Story
When Adrian Salas decided to tryout for the drill team at West Mesquite High School in 2015, he was unsure of how the school and community would react and worried the administration might not support him. But when one of his teachers told him about Rivers, he knew he had a chance to dance.
Driven to Dance
Adrian would be the beginning of a trend in Mesquite. He would support and encourage other young men in his community to tryout for drill team at their own schools. Since 2015, more than five young men have auditioned and made the drill teams at three of the community’s five high schools.
With Adrian's guidance, Alex Barbosa would be the first male to tryout for the Mesquite High All-Stars in 2017. Now starting his second year, he raised the bar by scoring in the team's Top 10, auditioning for an officer position, and earning a leadership spot.
Leading by Example
Teammates Damaris, Aline, and Johana have been there for Alex through it all. They are some of Alex's biggest supporters. They watched him deal with the finger points and crude remarks, but say he always did it
with a smile on his face.
Backing the Boys
As a former Kilgore Rangerette, Mesquite High dance instructor Christina Snider is familiar with the expectations placed on the young ladies in drill team. However, she is also aware of how even some beloved traditions have to change with the times.