It's my understanding [from my paternal grandfather, one of the first of the *Decatur Staley* professional football team that became the Chicago Bears,] that the cheerleading as we know it today was largely popularized by future big bandleader Kay Kyser during his college days at Durham, NC.
Couldn't say for sure, I wasn't around then.
However that's him- and a younger male cheerleader- cheering for Duke, circa 1939.
