Happy Wednesday! Today we are going to take a look at the UCA Stepperettes, one of the most popular organizations ever to exist on this campus. There is also a video of them performing for several football games and one basketball game. The video appears to be from two different academic years; 1974-1975 and 1975-1976. I hope you enjoy this time travel experience to the 1970s.
In the fall of 1957, a school-spirit organization was created, the T-Steppers, a 24 member female drill team which performed at football games, basketball games, and parades, and was modeled after the Kilgore Rangerettes. They were an immediate success and went from 24 members in the fall of 1957 to 42 members in the fall of 1958. The T-Steppers experienced a name change in 1967 when Arkansas State Teachers College became State College of Arkansas. The T-Steppers became the Stepperettes and were issued new uniforms.
Their popularity continued to grow, and by 1967, the Stepperettes boasted a total of 80 members. The Stepperettes, like the T-Steppers, were primarily noted for their performances at football and basketball games, and parades, but also served as goodwill ambassadors for UCA. They traveled to different parts of the State of Arkansas, judging tryouts for high school drill teams, and also performed at high school assemblies.
Interest in the Stepperettes began to wane in the mid 1980s, and in 1988 the Stepperettes permanently disbanded due to lack of participation.
Here is the link: Sound begins about one minute later. The video will be at the bottom of the next page, after you click on the link.
https://uca.edu/archives/from-the-archives/video-section/uca-stepperettes/