Former Houston County High cheerleader cheering for Clemson

Halie Manion watched history last week from the sidelines.

Literally.

Manion, a 2013 graduate of Houston County High School, is a senior at Clemson University where she has been a cheerleader for four years. She was on the sidelines cheering at the college football national championship game held Jan. 9.

Manion will graduate in May with a degree in secondary education and is currently doing her student teaching. Along with cheering, Manion has been very active in the Clemson FCA and Student Athlete Advisory Committee. She cheered at Houston County High, which won the state championship in cheerleading her senior year.

During her first visit to Clemson she fell in love with the campus.

“I just kind of knew, that Clemson was where I was supposed to be,” Manion said.

Manion tried out for cheerleader at Clemson during the spring of her senior year in high school, competing against about 130 other people, mostly women. Making the team her freshman year, Manion has still had to try out and make it every year since.

It wasn’t just skills like tumbling that Clemson was looking for in their cheerleaders. Manion had interviews as well.

“As a cheerleader, you represent Clemson. Not just the football team but everyone associated with the school. People recognize us, there are a lot of eyes on us when we are cheering, so people know who you are and we are held to a high standard,” Manion said.

Along with football at Clemson, Manion, 21, cheers for basketball and volleyball, and participates in NCAA cheerleading competitions.

Her first game as a cheerleader in the fall of 2013, was a Clemson-Georgia game.

“Until this year, it was my favorite game. ESPN was there doing ‘Game Day’ and it was the most fun I have ever had. We started at 8 a.m. and went to well after midnight. I will cherish that memory of that game forever,” said Manion, who added that she received lots of messages and texts about being seen on television after the Georgia game.

“It is something you don’t ever get completely used to, being on national television,” said Manion.

During the 2015 season, Clemson went into the playoffs with a perfect record.

“We hadn’t lost a game all season so we were pretty hopeful last year. Our team was incredible and it was a heartbreaking loss. It broke my heart because I know how much work the team puts into it but I also knew of the resiliency of our team.”

For the 2016 national championship game, held in Tampa, Florida, Manion and the other Clemson cheerleaders arrived a few days early.

“We had so many appearance, pep rallies, concert venues,’ Sports Center,’ ‘Good Morning America.’ We had a practice at a local high school.”

At the stadium for the national championship game, Manion was standing by the entrance to cheer the Tigers as they ran onto the field.

“It was pretty surreal and I did cry when our team came running out. I knew it was the last time I would see them and it kind of hit me at that moment, my last game and we were at the national championship game and the tears started flowing,” said Manion.

While being on the sidelines during a college football game sounds like a great opportunity, it is not actually the best place to see — since young men in shoulder pads are between the cheerleaders and the action.

“I usually watch the video board or watch the crowd and see how they react; you know what the score is and what time is left because of the video board,” said Manion.

However, by the last few minutes of the game, Manion said that the cheerleaders had abandoned their lineup and were clumped together to watch.

“That last play, there was so much emotion and we were standing there waiting, it felt like it took 10 minutes to get the play over with,” said Manion.

In the final seconds of the game, Clemson knocked off Alabama when quarterback DeShaun Watson threw a pass to Hunter Renfrow to give the Tigers a 35-31 win over the Crimson Tide and the college football national championship.

“It was crazy. The crowd was going nuts and we were all crying that we had actually won the national championship,” said Manion.

Clemson still had to kick off the ball and with one second on the clock, the Tiger fans rushed the field. Manion said that was one of her favorite memories, seeing friend DJ Greenlee before the field was cleared so that Clemson could finish the game.

“My roommate and I ended up in the middle and saw DJ and just ran and gave him a huge hug. After the game was officially over, we lost him in the chaos. But on the field, we were throwing confetti and hugging and it was a blast,” said Manion.

“My time at Clemson has been the best four years of my life. It was a huge blessing to go to a school that you love and love to call it home because it feels like home. The people I have met, the experiences of being a cheerleader, my roommates, my professors, they are all part of the Clemson experience. At Clemson we talk about being a family, the Clemson family. I can honestly say it is something very special and something you can’t really explain to someone on the outside.”

This story was originally published January 14, 2017 at 1:47 PM with the headline "Former Houston County High cheerleader cheering for Clemson."