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Big Lead Sports1 of 10
Cheerleaders are the eye-candy of our sporting events, as American as apple pie, but they didn't really start out like that. The first cheerleaders were an all-male pep club at Princeton in the 1880s. The first women cheerleaders appeared in 1923 at the University of Minnesota. Then, as men left to fight in World War II, more women were allowed to cheer, and crowds realized they liked watching them more. But either way, it's no surprise that there is quite an alumnus of cheerleaders. Some names are no-brainers, but many are surprising. Check out a list of people who once donned a cheerleading uniform, but moved on to be successful in much different fields.
Rachel Wray
This blistering blonde and former Kansas City Chiefs cheerleader is our most recent example. Wray made the news last week for ditching her pom poms in favor of padded gloves. Instead of cartwheels, she's now kicking and punching on the MMA fighting circuit. Check out her fighting skills below.
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Bob Levey/Getty Images & Darren McCollester/Newsmakers2 of 10
George W. Bush
Yep, the 43rd President of the United States and leader of the free world was once head cheerleader at Phillips Academy. During his time at Yale (1964-1968) he continued to cheer. He's in good company, too. Fellow President Ronald Reagan was a cheerleader at Eureka College (graduating in 1932); Dwight D. Eisenhower was a cheerleader at his Abilene, Kansas high school, and later at West Point in 1912; and Franklin D. Roosevelt cheered for Harvard football in 1904.
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Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images3 of 10
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Who says being a judge makes you stodgy? Back in the 1940s, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, RBG, was once a cheerleader at James Madison High. Girl's got moves, and not just with a gavel.
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Phyllis Smith
This endearing Phyllis from "The Office" used to cheer for the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1970s. She was also - wait for it - a burlesque dancer. But note, the photo of a woman in a red shirt and a large hairdo circulating on the Internet, she says, is not her. Take a look for yourself and decide.
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Samuel L. Jackson
This former Jedi, assassin and savior on a flight filled with snakes once cheered at Riverside High in Chattanooga, Tennessee, as well as Morehouse College, an all-male institution. He claims he did it in order to travel with the basketball and football teams so he could meet girls. Nicely done, Mace Windu.
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Silver Screen Collection/Hulton Archive/Getty Images6 of 10
Jimmy Stewart
This iconic "everyman" actor was head cheerleader at Princeton during his junior and senior years. Did an angel earn its wings after every score?
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Aaron Spelling
The king of television dramas was head cheerleader at Southern Methodist University, where he graduated in 1949. Maybe he took inspiration from those days. Was "Charlie's Angels" born from watching sexy women perform stunts on a field?
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Snooki
It's hard to understand how this self-described "Guidette," who's not even Italian or from Jersey, ended up on "Jersey Shore" and is now famous, but apparently she does have some talent. In 2006, she was a high school cheerleader in Marlboro, New York, and apparently has some skills. Who knew?
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The "Of Course They Were Cheerleaders" Club
Like, duh.
Madonna cheered at Rochester Adams High School; Cameron Diaz cheered while at Long Beach Polytechnic High School; Blake Lively while at Burbank High School; Halle Berry cheered for the Bedford High Bearcats in Bedford, Ohio; Lindsay Lohan at Calhoun High School in Merrick, New York; Olivia Mumm at her Oklahoma high school; and Stacey "Fergie" Ferguson while at Glen A. Wilson High School. There must have been an overabundance of frustrated boys watching from the bleachers.
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David Livingston/Getty Images & Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images10 of 10Next: Victoria's Secret Angels Without Makeup
The Professional Cheerleaders
Not content to rile up just pesky freshmen, all of these now-celebrity ladies were once cheering pros: Sarah Shahi cheered for the Dallas Cowboys, as did ex-"The Bachelor" reject Melissa Rycroft; Stacey Keibler cheered for the Baltimore Ravens before becoming a WWE Diva and George Clooney's arm-ornament; and cheer queen Paula Abdul, who was not only her high school head cheerleader and homecoming queen, but a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers.