The Bud Light Daredevils were an American acrobatic basketball show that performed during the halftime of college and NBA basketball games from 1983 to 1998. The show combined
gymnastics
Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, shou ...
,
trampoline
A trampoline is a device consisting of a piece of taut, strong fabric stretched between a steel frame using many coiled spring (device), springs. Not all trampolines have springs, as the Springfree Trampoline uses glass-reinforced plastic rods. ...
,
acrobatics
Acrobatics () is the performance of human feats of balance, agility, and motor coordination. Acrobatic skills are used in performing arts, sporting events, and martial arts. Extensive use of acrobatic skills are most often performed in acro ...
, and
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
. The team was started by
University of Mississippi
The University of Mississippi (byname Ole Miss) is a public research university that is located adjacent to Oxford, Mississippi, and has a medical center in Jackson. It is Mississippi's oldest public university and its largest by enrollment.
...
cheerleaders
Ty Cobb
Tyrus Raymond Cobb (December 18, 1886 – July 17, 1961), nicknamed "the Georgia Peach", was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) center fielder. He was born in rural Narrows, Georgia. Cobb spent 22 seasons with the Detroit Tigers, the las ...
, Sam Martin, Robert Kirby, Tyler Hubbard, John White, and Ty Cobb's younger brother
Guy Cobb.
Ole Miss and the Inception of Acrobatic Basketball (1979–83)
![Ole Miss Cheerleaders at Houston Rockets](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Ole_Miss_Cheerleaders_at_Houston_Rockets.jpg)
In 1980, Ty Cobb, along with fellow cheerleaders Sam Martin, John White, and Jeff Hubbard (as
Ole Miss Rebels
The Ole Miss Rebels are the 18 men's and women's intercollegiate athletic teams that are funded by and represent the University of Mississippi, located in Oxford. The first was the football team, which began play in 1893.
Originally known as th ...
mascot
Colonel Reb
Colonel Reb was the official mascot of Ole Miss Rebels, the collegiate athletic teams of the University of Mississippi ("Ole Miss") in Oxford, Mississippi. Designed in 1936, the Colonel served as the teams' official sideline mascot from 1979 unti ...
) began performing ball handling skits and acrobatics which incorporated a mini-trampoline during the time-outs and half-time of Ole Miss basketball games. Using his previous trampoline and diving skills and the cheerleader's mini-trampoline, Ty Cobb, on a dare performed the first successful acrobatic "flip dunk" at the Ole Miss vs. Alabama basketball game in 1980 and received a standing ovation by Alabama fans. Ole Miss Head Basketball Coach Bob Weltlich, recognizing the group's potential to soften up an opposing team's crowd, began flying the foursome with the Ole Miss Basketball team to away games.
In 1980, Ty Cobb's fraternity brother and fellow Ole Miss cheerleader Walt Shinault was practicing stunts using a mini-trampoline in the yard of his apartment complex in Oxford when he fell and broke his neck. The fall left him a quadriplegic. After the accident the
Southeastern Conference
The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...
(SEC) banned the use of mini-trampolines by all cheerleaders at SEC games.
With the banning of the use of mini-trampolines by cheerleaders throughout the SEC, Ty Cobb began looking for other ways for the group to continue performing their developing halftime show. Working on a marketing class project which had asked that students create their own company, Ty Cobb created a company called "The Ole Miss Cheerleaders Half Time Show". He designed marketing brochures and advertising materials that he then sent to
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...
(NBA) promotional directors as part of a direct marketing campaign. The concept worked as the promotional directors at many of the NBA teams were looking for new ways to increase attendance and contacted Ty to schedule the "Ole Miss Cheerleaders" to perform during the time outs and halftime of their home games. The first professional NBA performance by The Ole Miss Cheerleaders was for the
San Antonio Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference Southwest Division ( ...
in 1980, followed by shows for the
Houston Rockets
The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member team of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its ho ...
and
Dallas Mavericks
The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference (NBA), Western Conferenc ...
.
Still in high school in 1981, Ty Cobb's younger brother
Guy Cobb joined the show for performances at NBA games. With the addition of Guy, the team began experimenting with different ways to acrobatically pass the basketball. These passes were mixed and matched with each other to not only allow for more complex acrobatic dunks to be performed but also to provide a way for the team to incorporate more passes into the dunk sequences without having to stop the show. One example was the "flip-pass" off the basketball backboard. This pass could be followed by another flip-pass and another and then a dunk ("Congo Dunk" 1987).
The Dixie Daredevils (1983–84)
![The Dixie Daredevils](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/The_Dixie_Daredevils.jpg)
Following his graduation from Ole Miss in the Fall of 1983, Ty Cobb began planning to create a professional half-time show that would travel and perform during the college and
NBA
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
basketball season. Guy Cobb, having just completed his freshman year at Ole Miss, dropped out of school to join his brother.
In 1983 Cobb's father became President of Colonial Baking Company in St. Louis. The two Cobb brothers relocated with their parents to the small community of Columbia, Illinois located southeast of St. Louis. They set up an office in their parent's basement and began organizing a performance schedule for the 1983-84 basketball season. Charles Cobb came up with the team's new professional name of "Dixie Daredevils". Steve Cliffe, a former Mehlville High School school mate of Ty Cobb's also joined the
Dixie Daredevils at this time.
In the Summer of 1983, Cobb's father scheduled the Dixie Daredevils as a Colonial Bread promotion. He sponsored the Dixie Daredevils for performances in grocery store parking lots and at high school assemblies throughout the metro St. Louis and central Illinois areas.
During the 1983-84 basketball season, Ty and
Guy Cobb performed 45 shows throughout the United States. At the end of the season they received a call from Anheuser-Busch to discuss a sponsorship of the Dixie Daredevils to be associated with a new beer called "Budweiser Light".
The Bud Light Daredevils (1984–1998)
![Guy Cobb Bud Light Daredevils](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3f/Guy_Cobb_Bud_Light_Daredevils.jpg)
Both Cobb brothers worked for Universal Cheerleaders Association (UCA) during the Summer of 1982 as cheerleading instructors. Ty Cobb had met Mack Hirshberg at UCA's college cheerleading camp the previous Summer. Hirshberg was a cheerleader at the University of South Carolina and had just graduated. In the Summer of 1983 Anheuser-Busch changed the name of their new beer "Budweiser Light" to "Bud Light". Mack Hirshberg joined the group for the 1984-85 premiere season and the team's name was changed from The Dixie Daredevils to The Bud Light Daredevils.
It started in 1979 when Jeff Hubbard, who was a mascot at the University of Mississippi, dared fellow cheerleader Ty Cobb, who is related to the baseball legend, to do a flip off a minitrampoline and slam dunk a basketball through the hoop. Cobb did it and delighted an astonished crowd. Cobb then recruited several other cheerleaders and created a short routine of precision gymnastics and ball handling that was performed throughout the NCAA's Southeastern Conference.
The cheerleaders turned professional during the 1980–81 season and took their act on the road. In 1983, the team was known as the Dixie Daredevils, and Cobb approached Anheuser-Busch Inc. about sponsoring the team.
From 1984 to 1998 the Bud Light Daredevils performed at universities and NBA games throughout all 50 United States. When they were not performing during the American basketball season, they found sponsors for tours of the
Netherlands
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, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
,
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
,
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
,
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
,
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
,
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
,
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
,
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
,
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
, and
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...
. Corporate sponsors included
Boeing
The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product ...
,
Converse
Converse may refer to:
Mathematics and logic
* Converse (logic), the result of reversing the two parts of a definite or implicational statement
** Converse implication, the converse of a material implication
** Converse nonimplication, a logical c ...
, Wang Laboratories, SportLife Chewing Gum, and Gordon's Gin. The group was also featured on national television shows such as ABC's That's Incredible!, Incredible Sunday, Showtime's Super Dave (TV series), Disney's
The Mickey Mouse Club
''The Mickey Mouse Club'' is an American variety television show that aired intermittently from 1955 to 1996 and returned to social media in 2017. Created by Walt Disney and produced by Walt Disney Productions, the program was first televised fo ...
, and most recently, former Bud Light Daredevil
Mark Odgers was featured performing a flip dunk over a New York City Cab live on Late Night with David Letterman.
During the 1996–97 season, the Bud Light Daredevils have three teams touring full time. One team only performs internationally. The other two teams perform at approximately 150 events in front of more than 1 million fans.
Anheuser-Busch ended their fourteen-year sponsorship of the Bud Light Daredevils in 1998 in response to both governmental and social pressure to eliminate all alcohol marketing to college students.
The team has performed in front of more than 8 million people at 385 colleges and tournaments, 26 NBA teams, 28 CBA teams. They have taken the show to 74 cities in 20 foreign countries. Video highlights of their performances have been shown on such TV shows as "America's Funniest Home Videos", "NBC Nightly News", "The Tonight Show", "Late Night with David Letterman", "Good Morning America", "George Michaels Sports Machine" and "The Today Show." A 30-minute special about the team titled "The Right Stuff" aired on ESPN.
See also
*
Slamball
Slamball is a form of basketball played with four trampolines in front of each net and boards around the court edge. The name SlamBall is the trademark of SlamBall, LLC. While SlamBall is based on basketball, it is a contact sport, with blocks ...
*
Ole Miss
*
University of Mississippi
The University of Mississippi (byname Ole Miss) is a public research university that is located adjacent to Oxford, Mississippi, and has a medical center in Jackson. It is Mississippi's oldest public university and its largest by enrollment.
...
*
Guy Cobb
References
{{Reflist
Ball games
Sports entertainment
Slamball
Performing groups established in 1983
Anheuser-Busch advertising