Kay Teer Crawford

Kay Teer Crawford (1914-2001) was an American choreographer known as the "mother of drill team".

She was born Kay Waweehie Teer on August 16, 1914. She had Native American Cherokee and Comanche in her family lineage. She was raised in Grainger, Texas and lived in extreme poverty during her childhood. Crawford attended Edinburg High School (Edinburg, Texas), where she started the first "modern dance drill team" in 1929 after she had earned a spot on the school's cheerleading squad but 90 of her schoolmates did not. Her drill team idea was inspired by the marching styles of Reserve Officer Training Corps cadets at a local community college. The following year, her idea came to fruition when the Edinburg High School "Seargenettes" took the field in the fall of 1930.

Crawford earned degrees from Edinburg Junior College, the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, the University of Texas, and University of Southern California (where she wrote her master's thesis on the subject of drill team). She earned her doctorate degree from Baylor University. Kay Crawford was a professor at Santa Monica College, UCLA, and USC.

Regarded as the "mother of drill team", Crawford died of cancer in her home in Redondo Beach, CA on August 29, 2001. She was 88 years old.