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TEXAS WOMEN
by Richard Pruitt and David Woo
"Gussie Nell Davis, the 77
year old founder and retired director of the Kilgore Rangerettes Drill
Team, has the distinction of being the oldest woman in the book. Her
picture was taken in several different settings. The last one was in the
Rangerette Showcase. On a whim, David asked her to do a high kick while
she precariously stood on a narrow stage. Without hesitation, up went her
leg and the photographer snapped the portrait that is in the book."
Thousands of women on drill teams around the world can thank a daring
former Kilgore Junior College instructor for having the courage to
introduce the popular dance form. In 1940, Gussie Nell Davis was
instructed by the college president to find a way to keep people in their
seats during halftime at the football games. He also wanted her to attract
more women to the school because coeds were outnumbered by men six to one.
She first suggested a drum
and bugle corps, similar to the one she headed during her 10 years at
Greenville High School. The president turned that idea down. Then she
remembered the dancers she had seen in California while attending UCLA and
decided to introduce 48 women doing synchronized dance routines. Because
Kilgore was such a cosmopolitan town, she dared to dress the women in
somewhat risque short skirts. "I was really a devil," she says, describing
how she decided that the skirt length would be two inches above the knee.
Gussie Nell describes how
she was literally shaking the first time the drill team performed at a
game. She didn't know if she would be applauded or run out of town. The
claps and cheers at the conclusion signaled approval, marking the
beginning of what she calls an "art form" introduced around the world.
The Kilgore Rangerettes
served as unofficial state "ambassadors" as they did their high kicks and
dances in the coldest of bowl games and received the warmest of receptions
while performing everywhere from The Ed Sullivan Show to President
Eisenhower's inauguration.
Gussie Nell took personal
satisfaction when the women performed well because it gave her an
opportunity to live out her unfulfilled fantasy of being a professional
dancer. She didn't get to because her mother was determined that she would
become a concert pianist. The first time Gussie Nell ever defied this wish
was when she was in college and switched her major from music to physical
education.
Later when the Rangerettes
performed, she says, "If they were good, I felt like I was a success. If
they made a mistake, I felt like I had made it."
After 51 years of
teaching, Gussie Nell retired in May 1979 and didn't look back. "When I
got through, that was it. I had gotten up every morning at 6 o'clock and
worked on Saturdays when we had ball games. When I quit, I quit. I think
that's enough." |
