University of Tennessee majorettes have been dazzling Vols fans for almost 90 years

It's almost football time in Tennessee, and that means Saturdays are soon to be spent decked out in orange.

There's one orange-clad group that's brought the game day spirit year after year with its members' enthusiastic dancing, marching and twirling across the field - the University of Tennessee's majorettes.

The team has existed in some form since 1937, cheering on the Vols alongside the band, and one young woman led the group with true spirit from the start.

On April 7, 1937, a group at UT formalized plans to organize a "co-ed drill team" to join the band - not yet dubbed the Pride of the Southland - during halves, the Knoxville News Sentinel reported that day.

'High steppers' wanted

The fliers posted around campus said "high steppers" with "erect posture" would be selected for the squad.

Less than two weeks later, practice began for the new drill team, the News Sentinel reported April 18, 1937. The team - then called the Volettes - gave its first performance at a game against Virginia Tech on Oct. 2, 1937.

That November, it was announced the Volettes would perform not just at Shields-Watkins Field but during basketball games as well.

Who was the first majorette at UT?

Mildred Alexander was announced as the temporary leader of the Volettes in April 1937, but News Sentinel articles continued to describe her as the group's leader throughout 1937 and 1938.

"Co-ed Mildred Alexander led her new cheering contingent, The Volettes, out parading across the field in the wake of the band at the half. They were got up in white dresses and caps and orange jackets, but nobody would object to them in calico," the News Sentinel reported in October 1937.

In 1938, Alexander traveled to away games in Nashville, Memphis and Miami, Florida, in addition to performing at home games in Knoxville. "...There has never been a more gracious stepper on Shields-Watkins Field," the News Sentinel reported that year.

According to Volopedia, Alexander was named head majorette in 1939, but a 1939 News Sentinel article calls it "her first year away."

Alexander, from Shelbyville, was also president of the campus YWCA, the News Sentinel reported in 1938 when she was listed in "Who's Who in American Colleges and Universities." She majored in business administration, according to a 1939 News Sentinel article.

UT honored Alexander with the prestigious undergraduate Torchbearer award in 1939, according to the Chancellor’s Honors Banquet website.

Alexander - by then Mildred Price - died in 2017 at age 101.

Hayden Dunbar is the storyteller reporter. Email hayden.dunbar@knoxnews.com.

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: University of Tennessee majorettes have been dazzling Vols fans for almost 90 years