Coaching Phenomenon
Berry to be Inducted into the KHSAA Dawahares Hall of Fame Class of 2023
Sasha Bush
The Ashland Beacon
“We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence therefore is not an act,
but a habit.”- Aristotle
How does one go from a good coach to a great coach? Is it the number of wins or championship trophies under his or her belt? Is it the rankings of the program? Perhaps, it’s the impact that he or she has made on the athletes coached? The truth is that there is not one perfect formula to becoming a great coach. However, there a clear difference between what makes a coach and what makes a coach great. A good coach knows how to follow a program that has been given to him or her and how to give the athletes a better understanding of how to best adapt their athletic performance to fit the criteria of that program. However, a great coach understands that the world of sports continues to evolve and with that the need for programs to evolve is vital to the success of any athletic program. A good coach can copy what other coaches previously have done, but a great coach realizes that when we try to follow another person’s path to success that is grounds for failure. A copy of something will never be as great as the original.
No one understands this better than local Greenup County High School Cheer Coach, Candace (Candy) Sue Berry. Berry first entered the world of cheer in the 1960s when there wasn’t much to cheerleading beyond high ponytails, sideline chants, and big pom poms. Berry was a freshman at Russell High School when she had her first taste of the cheer world. At the time, cheerleading wasn’t considered a competitive sport, and many people didn’t even consider cheerleaders as athletes. Unbeknownst to Berry, all that was about to change, and she would go on to revolutionize the world of cheer forever.
Like most young girls, Berry met the love of her life shortly after high school. They were later married and started a family. Berry’s love for the world of cheer never went away. Her memories of her days at Russell cheering for the Red Devils were always tucked away in the back of her mind. Berry soon realized that she had a real passion for the sport, and she wanted to share that passion with others. She concluded that becoming a cheer coach would be the best path for her. Little did she know that the path she had chosen would not only lead her into legendary status but that she would also help others achieve the same. Berry stated, “Cheerleading was something I was really good at in school. I did well with it, and when I was given the opportunity to step into coaching, I did.”
Berry’s coaching career began at Russell High School where she coached for five years before being offered the position of head cheer coach at Greenup County High School in 1976. After coaching at Greenup County for four years, Berry had the opportunity to take her cheer squad to the first ever National High School Cheerleading Championship in Orlando Florida in 1980. This competition was the first of its kind. It provided cheerleaders the opportunity to be rewarded for their hard work and dedication to the sport. It also created an entirely new mindset for those who didn’t view cheering as a sport. Cheerleaders could now be recognized for their talents, abilities, and enthusiasm.
For 43 straight years, Berry’s cheerleading squad has earned the privilege to take to the mats of the National High School Cheerleading Championship and often blow their competition out of the water. Since Berry started as Greenup County’s cheer coach back in 1976, she has led the Greenup County cheerleaders to 16 national championship titles. Her collection of white-satin championship jackets includes: 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1992, 1994, 1997, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2010, 2011, 2015 and 2017. In addition to Greenup’s 16 national titles, Greenup County’s cheerleading program has brought home the three KHSAA state championship titles in 2015,2016, and 2022 and have claimed the Kentucky Association of Pep State Championship title five times. They have even been featured on CBS in 1984 and have had a book written about them, entitled We’ve Got Spirit: The Life and Times of America’s Greatest Cheerleading Team, written by James T. McElroy. The accomplishments of Berry’s legendary cheerleading squad don’t stop at white satin jackets. Under Berry’s leadership the Greenup County High School cheer squads have accumulated a rather impressive list of accomplishments, which include being given the opportunity to perform at various events and locations over the years. Berry’s squad has had the honor to perform for the Kansas City Kings basketball team in 1984, travel to Japan and perform in Japan’s first ever cheer competition in 1988, perform at the Coca- Cola City during the 1996 Olympics, and even had the opportunity to perform for the Orlando Magic basketball team in 1997.
One thing is for sure—Candy Berry knows how to coach cheerleading. Berry realizes you have to train in anticipation of competing against the best and make sure that your training is far more challenging and physically demanding than the competition you are training against in order to be the best. Berry possesses the uncanny ability to not only successfully engage with her athletes but also the ability to inspire to bring out their full potential. Berry also realizes that it is of the utmost importance that no matter what you do in life that you do it with respect to others and never give up on your dreams. Berry remarked, “When we learn to respect others and learn to be dedicated in what we do… we build strong athletes. Stumbles and falls are inevitable. You never want to quit before you reach the finish line. What you want to remember is that the journey that you are on is what makes it all worth it.”
Due to Berry’s unique, fundamentally sound, and ever evolving approach to coaching, she has truly put not only Greenup County on the map but the state of Kentucky, as well. Through her 46 years of coaching, Berry has touched the lives of hundreds and has opened the eyes of nay sayers everywhere to the reality that cheer is indeed not only a sport but a competitive one at that. Berry has received numerous awards and recognitions over the years for her successful career in coaching, which include being named the 2000 American Cheer Magazine Coach of the Year, the 1988 KAPOS Coach of the Year, the 1999 UCA Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2012 University of Kentucky Cheer Alumni Award, the American Spirit Award, two-time Kentucky Colonel recognition, 2017 Greenup County High School Hall of Fame, and many more.
Berry recently added another high honor to an already impressive list. It was recently announced that Berry earned the honor of being inducted into the KHSAA Dawahares Hall of Fame Class of 2023 on April 30, 2023. “To have the honor of being added to a list of others who have dedicated their careers and lives to our Kentucky youth is a dream come true. God has blessed me with the ability of being a coach. I love the kids; I love seeing them learn a skill and become proud of what they have learned. Our youth is the greatest asset we have and to be able to direct them in anyway is truly my honor,” stated Berry. She described finding out about this great honor as being “so surreal.” Berry added, “No one can be successful without a support group. I want to thank the Greenup County School District for supporting our program and for helping their students succeed. I also want to thank my family. They have always been so supportive and encouraging to me and that means everything to me.”
