--- title: Cheerleading Boot Camp: A World War II Vet Toughens Up His Recruits description: A 1965 profile of Bill Horan, a World War II paratrooper who spent his days yelling at young women -- for their own good. canonical: https://time.com/3878161/cheerleading-boot-camp-a-world-war-ii-vet-toughens-up-his-recruits/ author: Ben Cosgrove article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2013-10-12T19:59:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:03:49.841Z og:title: Cheerleading Boot Camp: A World War II Vet Toughens Up His Recruits og:description: A 1965 profile of Bill Horan, a World War II paratrooper who spent his days yelling at young women -- for their own good. og:url: https://time.com/3878161/cheerleading-boot-camp-a-world-war-ii-vet-toughens-up-his-recruits/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfa107e0e7bad75ea/69884adfa988ca581d6b1fed/131112-life-cheerleader-school-4.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1500 og:image:height: 844 og:image:alt: Cheerleading Clinic, 1965 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Cheerleading Boot Camp: A World War II Vet Toughens Up His Recruits twitter:description: A 1965 profile of Bill Horan, a World War II paratrooper who spent his days yelling at young women -- for their own good. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfa107e0e7bad75ea/69884adfa988ca581d6b1fed/131112-life-cheerleader-school-4.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Cheerleading Boot Camp: A WWII Vet Toughens Up His Recruits > Sponsored content. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published Tuesdays and Saturdays to 40,000 subscribers as of August 2026. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Oct 12, 2013 7:59 PM UTC  Cheerleader training under Bill Horan of the American Cheerleaders Association, Alabama, 1965. Cheerleader training under Bill Horan of the American Cheerleaders Association, Alabama, 1965. Lynn Pelham—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Oct 12, 2013 7:59 PM UTC In September 1965, LIFE magazine profiled a man named Bill Horan, a World War II vet who spent his days yelling at young women. That’s not all he did, though. He also instilled the sort of character traits one might expect from a former paratrooper — tenacity, discipline, resilience — through cheerleading clinics he ran for three decades as a kind of pep-squad drill sergeant. [\[Read Bill Horan’s 2005 obituary in the Orlando _Sentinel_\]](http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2005-09-28/news/LHORAN28%5F1%5Fbill-horan-lake-county-fruitland-park) “Like jacks-in-the-box the girls fly into the air as the hard-eyed man shakes his fist,” LIFE wrote of a typical scene at one of Horan’s clinics. --- > “” --- --- > “” --- --- > “” --- --- > “” --- --- > “” --- --- > “” --- One last note: That lede in the LIFE article — “Like jacks-in-the-box the girls fly into the air as the hard-eyed man shakes his fist” — sounds like the opening line of a long-lost Wallace Stevens poem. Something with a title like _Punching Judy in the Rag and Bone Shop_, or _Cerberus Slumbers at Edwin Hubble’s Feet_. At any rate, it’s especially wonderful when read aloud. Go ahead. Try it. ---  Mar. 22, 2014\. A Russian sailor holding the Russian Navy's St. Andrew flag while standing on the on bow of the surrendered Ukrainian submarine 'Zaporozhye', is reflected in the waters of the harbor of Sevastopol, Crimea, Ukraine. Lynn Pelham—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images ---  Cheerleader training under Bill Horan of the American Cheerleaders Association, Alabama, 1965\. "Reach for the ripcord!" Horan bawls at his students. Lynn Pelham—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Cheerleader training under Bill Horan of the American Cheerleaders Association, Alabama, 1965. Lynn Pelham—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Cheerleader training under Bill Horan of the American Cheerleaders Association, Alabama, 1965. Lynn Pelham—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  "Get tough!" Bill Horan orders student instructor Donna Smith, 16, from Frankfort, Ky., who holds back a tear. "My girls wind up running their campuses," Horan told LIFE. 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