Jeff Webb, the Texas businessman who transformed cheerleading into a multibillion-dollar industry and served as an early mentor to conservative activist Charlie Kirk, has died at the age of 76 after suffering a serious head injury in a freak pickleball accident.
Webb was widely known as the 'father of modern cheerleading' and at just 24, he started a company in 1974 that later became Varsity Spirit, running it from his apartment in the early days.
Over time, he changed cheerleading from a simple school activity into a huge, billion-dollar industry in the United States.
He created training camps where teams learned routines, competitions where they performed and organizations that made the rules.
He also sold cheerleading items like pom-poms and uniforms.
By 2004, Varsity Spirit, based in Memphis was making over $150 million a year and controlled about 90% of the market for cheerleading equipment and services in the US, according to the New York Times.
In 1984, ESPN began showing cheerleading competitions on TV, helping the sport grow across the country.
At Varsity, staff even nicknamed his private jet 'Cheer Force One.'
The company was later sold for $1.5 billion in 2014 and Webb stepped away from it in 2020.
Webb was also known to be one of Kirk's early mentors and praised his leadership and potential.
After leaving Varsity, Webb focused on the International Cheer Union, an organization he also founded.
In his later years, he worked to make cheerleading an Olympic sport.
In 2016, when cheerleading got provisional recognition from the International Olympic Committee, he called it the 'culmination of my life's work.'
