Educator Gussie Nell Davis was a role model to many young girls and women through her creation of the first girls’ drill team in America. Born to Robert Augustus Davis and Mattie Lavinia (Callaway) Davis on November 4, 1906, she and her family settled in Farmersville. After graduating high school in 1923, Davis earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education from the College of Industrial Arts in Denton and participated in various groups. After graduation in 1927, she moved to Los Angeles to attend the University of Southern California. However, her sister Vera convinced Gussie to apply for a physical education job at Greenville (Hunt County). She agreed and moved back to Texas and began teaching at Greenville High School in the fall of 1928. During a football game, Gussie had the idea to start the first all-girl pep squad. They performed using head, hand and marching drills with the local community band during halftime. Drums, bugles, marching and precision dancing were incorporated and the pep squad became the Greenville High School Drum and Bugle Corps. Baton twirling was added and in 1932, the use of sparklers, firecrackers and roman candles were used in their performances, leading tothe group being renamed the “Flaming Flashes.” They performed at the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition in Dallas and their performance was seen as a huge success. In 1938, Davis received her master’s degree from the University of Southern California. In 1940, Davis started working at Kilgore Junior College and built a precision dance and drill team, called the Kilgore College Rangerettes. It was the first all-girl dance-drill team in the U.S. to perform during halftime at a college football game. Davis retired in June 1979 and passed away on December 21, 1993. The Rangerettes achieved worldwide recognition; Davis remains a hero to many and her pioneering legacy lives on in drill teams across the country. (2023)