Once a Highland cheerleader, always a Highland cheerleader.
This is the adage that many of Cheryl Fuller’s former cheerleaders live by.
Fuller started her cheerleading journey in 1977 as Highland High School’s cheer coach — a job which she continued for 33 years, until Highland closed its doors in 2010.
She coached hundreds of girls, building relationships that bonded her to her students as, in her words, “forever family.”
In addition to firing up fans at the school’s sporting events, Fuller’s teams participated in state and national cheerleading competitions, winning multiple championships at each level.
Her teams would practice twice a day, year-round. Fuller said the common bond among her teams was the commitment each girl brought to each season.
“We worked real hard, and we were successful because the girls bought into the program,” Fuller said. “Every team had a personality of its own. It usually was the leadership of the juniors and seniors that year. They became the leaders of where they wanted to take the squad.”
Many of Fuller’s former students still keep in contact with her. Amy Gilbert, a Highland cheerleader from 1995 to 1998, said the impact that the Fuller family had on the cheer team will always be with her.
“They were my family,” Gilbert said. “Something I’ll never forget about Mrs. Fuller was that she cared about us. Not just for us to get first place, but she cared about each one of us. If I had a rough time at home with family or whatever was going on, she would sit down and talk to me.
“I’d come to practice not just for practice, but because she was like our grandma or our mom,” Gilbert continued. “We could talk to her about absolutely anything.”
Carmisha King, a member of the team from 2002 to 2005, said Fuller created a positive environment around the program.
“She gave you strength,” King said. “She’d be like, ‘You can do it, just try,’ and, ‘Be who you are and be proud of who you are.’ She’s a great person to be around. She gave us confidence.”
Over more than three decades as a coach, Fuller said she was able to see how cheerleading began to evolve into a more mainstream sport.
“The style of cheerleading, from then to now, has changed so much,” she said. “In the beginning years, we were building these huge pyramids and flipping off them. Later, the mechanics got down to one person holding another person, which is a lot harder than you think.
“You had to keep on your toes and change with the times.”
Throughout her career, Fuller also hosted cheer clinics for younger girls to learn how to cheer from members of the team. Fuller said the clinics provided opportunities to see “the progress of these little girls who just came and wanted to be Highland cheerleaders, and I saw them achieve that.”
Alicia Bays, who was a Highland cheerleader from 2002 to 2005, remembers “the dedication that (Fuller) taught us, but also the work ethic that she put into so many of us.”
With the program flourishing and winning competitions, newcomers to the squad knew the expectations coming in, Bays said.
“When you see what (Fuller) had built, you always wanted to maintain that legacy,” Bays said. “We wanted to keep that status of being not only the best, but just being great Highland cheerleaders.”
King, Gilbert and Bays all followed in Fuller’s footsteps. Gilbert is the dance team coach at Lapel High School, and King coaches cheerleaders at Anderson Preparatory Academy. Bays also served as the cheerleading coach at Lapel.
In retirement, Fuller remains involved in the cheerleading world. Her daughter, Wendy, is currently the cheer coach at Fall Creek Junior High School in Fishers, where Fuller is frequently seen at practices and competitions.
This article appeared in The Herald Bulletin.