The Pride of Alabama

On the 10th anniversary of ACE All-Stars of Alabama, founders Happy Hooper and Susan Schwartz look back on their program’s success.

By Erin Skarda

CBN June/July 2009

When we first started ACE, we wanted to provide an environment that promoted cheerleading as a sport and also provided outlets for kids to grow into great adults.”

—Susan Schwarz, founder & coach, ACE All-Stars of Alabama

“I’m proud to say that we have “cheerlebrities” every year at every level. I hope and like to think that we coach our kids to walk a little taller and step a little bigger because they feel [like they’re] important to a greater cause.”

—Happy Hooper, owner, ACE All-Stars of Alabama

A lot can happen in 10 years: You can graduate from high school and college, get married, have kids and completely change your life. But if you’re ACE All Stars of Alabama coaches and founders Happy Hooper and Susan Schwarz, you can grow a cheer program from just 60 athletes to 35 teams with countless participants, extend your establishment from one gym to four across two states, win numerous regional and national championships and personal accolades, and touch the lives of thousands of young people from across the country and around the world.

Since 1999, ACE has been a fixture on the all-star cheer scene. Their standout red, black and gold uniforms can’t be missed, and their innovative choreography and all-around Southern charm make them a crowd-pleasing favorite at competitions. But most of all, ACE athletes are proud to be the “Pride of Alabama”—a perspective that’s been passed down from Hooper, Schwarz and other staff members throughout the years.

“I love being a part of ACE,” says Hooper, owner and founder of the program. “It’s grown to be something bigger than any one person. It is, in itself, an identity. It’s just a feeling and atmosphere.”

CBN: How long have you both been coaching?

Susan: I’ve been coaching for more than 20 years.

Happy: I began doing choreography for local high schools in the area in the fifth grade, but I’ve been coaching for 15 years.

CBN: How did you get involved in cheerleading?

Susan: My first cheerleading experience was as a “tiny” cheerleader for my older brother’s middle school football team. I was 4 years old and my mom made a uniform for me. I still remember looking up in awe at the cheerleaders when they built pyramids! I grew up as a gymnast and then became a cheerleader in middle school and continued on through college. I taught camps during college and then went into coaching. I taught high school [squads] and was a high school sponsor for a while until I retired when my children were born.

Happy: My mom and dad coached every sport under the sun at our schools, but I was always drawn most to cheerleading. I began tumbling while my parents taught gymnastics at their respective high schools. I never cheered in high school but could always tumble, so I decided to try and use that [talent] to achieve a college scholarship. I cheered at Snead State Community College under Libby Bates where we won the UCA national title, then I cheered at Columbus State University under Jimbo Davis. I left Columbus and traveled to Virginia Tech, where I also began the Roanoke Cheer Force All Stars, which I ran out of Roanoke Gymnastics. I then returned to Alabama and coached the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

CBN: How did ACE first get started?

Susan: I moved to Birmingham 11 years ago and met Happy through our mutual friend, Paige Black. Paige had an all-star cheerleading team and I helped her out one day a week and Happy did their choreography. The three of us just started working together a lot and one day, while we were sitting in Paige’s den, we put the whole ACE idea together.

Happy had been thinking about colors and a theme for the team for a while. I was working as a coach at a local middle school and Paige had one all-star team. We began recruiting and then held tryouts. The first year we had 60 kids. The second year we had almost triple that, and it just continued to grow from there. Paige moved to Florida five years ago and is now a cheer mom to her middle school daughter.

Happy: My great friend Mark Evans and I had completed some choreography jobs in the past, and he was good friends with Paige. She asked him if he had any suggestions of who should choreograph for her team, and he suggested me. While doing the choreography job, I let Paige know that I wanted to help throughout the year. It was a good year, but I could tell there was great potential. I’d always had the idea of all-stars in my mind (thanks to Jamie Parrish and Georgia All-Stars) and went to her and Susan about it.

CBN: What was the goal of the program when you first started, and how does that compare to your company’s goals and philosophy today?

Susan: [When we first started,] we wanted to provide an environment that promoted cheerleading as a sport and also provided outlets for kids to grow into great adults. Now that ACE is 10 years old, our first athletes are coming back as adults and visiting us. It’s amazing! I don’t think our philosophy has changed much since the early days.

Happy: I’m very proud to say that we still adhere to our same philosophy. Not only are our former athletes coming back to visit, but they’re a strong part of our work force. To watch them in action with the younger athletes is the biggest compliment.

CBN: How many athletes do you have today?

Susan: Our first year we had 60 kids; this year at CHEERSPORT we had 32 teams representing all four of the ACE gyms.

Happy: We have more than 150 athletes in our Open program alone. That, to me, is just amazing.

CBN: Wow, that’s quite the expansion! How many competitions do you attend each year?

Happy: Generally seven, with four being majors.

CBN: When you first started the program, why did you decide to go with the “Tribe” theme?

Happy: The main reasons that I chose to honor the “Tribe” spirit are because of my family and where I grew up. I’m of Cherokee lineage and grew up in Cherokee County, Alabama. Everywhere you go and all businesses there use some honor of Native American symbolism. To me, the colors of red, black and gold are the perfect fit for the “Tribe” spirit. Growing up, I would draw uniforms of the tribe, and the colors were always red, black and gold.

CBN: Was it difficult to decide on a theme?

Happy: No, but I will let you guys in on what my second choice was going to be—“Pirates”! Using the same colors, of course.

CBN: Can you rattle off some top competition finishes for ACE?

Susan: I would say that winning CHEERSPORT Nationals is always a top competition finish for us. We’ve had several teams across all levels win there, and the senior coed Level 4 team that I coached a few years back won it back-to-back. Several of the teams that I coach have also won UCA All-Star Nationals, and that was a lot of fun. This year, we had teams win at NCA Nationals, and we’ve also had big wins at JAMfest Super Nationals in Indianapolis.

Happy: To me, every win has such a different meaning. It may be a regional that an athlete was so scared [to perform at], or it was their first event so seeing them win was the highlight, or having a team that was struggling finally come out on top. We had one competition where we came in second, but it was a sweet victory because the night before finals we had to kick off five of our main male bases on large coed for disciplinary reasons.

CBN: What are some titles and awards that you are most proud of, both personally and earned by your teams?

Susan: I was really proud to see Happy win Coach of the Year two years ago at the USASF Coaches Conference. He certainly deserved it!

Happy: To have our program recognized by the media and industry is the greatest honor of all.

CBN: What are a few attributes of ACE that makes the program stand out from others at competitions?

Susan: We’re known for our gold bows that the girls wear in their hair. That has become a Tribe tradition. And I personally think we have some of the friendliest kids around!

Happy: I think what stands out is our “Family—All For Each Other” approach. We walk around the competitions in full force as a staff and with teams pulling for each other. This year at CHEERSPORT we had 72 coaches at one time in front of the stage. We were three rows deep of just coaches—that was an awesome sight.

CBN: How did the slogan “The Pride of Alabama” come about?

Happy: I truly believe things happen for a reason. ACE began as Alabama Cheer Elite. We really wanted to represent the people and heritage of Alabama, and I felt that having the name Alabama in our title would really help in our identity. Well, we were sued by a gym in Alabama that already had “Alabama” and “Cheer” in their name, and they didn’t want us to use it. But that ended up being the best thing to ever happen. We strictly went by ACE All-Stars of Alabama, and it has been wonderful. I still wanted to use Alabama marketing-wise, so in the tagline of our cheer we used “The Pride of Alabama.” Through a lot of hard work by athletes, coaches, parents and staff, we are a worldwide name as the ACE Tribe. There’s even an ACE Tribe in Dundee, Scotland! Closer to home, we’ve moved across state lines into two Georgia sites, as well: Atlanta and Columbus.

CBN: ACE teams are known for being innovative with both choreography and song selection. Happy, where do you draw inspiration from when you’re coming up with routines?

Happy: It’s all I think about! My staff, parents and athletes will come up with some great ideas that we use, too. But just keeping my mind open to a song or a memory really helps me tap into a feeling that I hope gets portrayed through our performance. We also talk about it all year and keep all our ideas on a computer and notepads.

CBN: What do the practice schedules at ACE consist of?

Happy: Summer is one two-hour team practice, one one-hour tumble class and one specialty class, which can include jumps and motions, flexibility, strength and conditioning, full class, Basket class, double-down class, standing full class, etc. In the Fall and Winter, it’s two two-hour team practices and one one-hour tumble class.

CBN: In the 10 years that ACE has been around, you’ve expanded to four locations. How did you know when it was time to start expanding and what advice would you offer to other gym owners who are hoping to do the same thing?

Happy: We had athletes who were traveling more than four hours each way to practice twice a week, and I just felt that if we could take our product to them, we could reach an even larger base. My advice [to other gym owners] would be to realize that everyone wants you personally to be everywhere—and that’s impossible. You must surround yourself with people who are amazing. I’ve worked hard to assemble a staff that makes the program what it is. Without the right staff in the right position it won’t work.

CBN: Did you have any concerns or hesitations when you started to expand? If so, what were they?

Happy: Everyday! [I was worried] that the product would be damaged overall or watered down—spread thin if you will—but just the opposite happened! Because of our amazing staff and support, we grew stronger top to bottom every year.

CBN: How do you manage to provide your athletes with such a personal cheer experience within such a large program?

Susan: All of our coaches take great interest in the kids they coach. Over the course of a competitive season, strong bonds form between our coaches and our athletes.

Happy: That’s what ACE is—that’s how I coach the staff, and we all coach the athletes the same way!

CBN: ACE is such a strong program and seems to breed cheer “celebs,” such as Kenneth St. John and AC Cheerleader of the Month Sidney Anne McGough, both who are recognized by other cheerleaders at the competitions they attend. How do you teach your athletes to be humble even with all the attention?

Susan: I think that we’re really careful to not label individual athletes as “stars.” Happy’s innovative choreography draws on the strengths of the team as a whole and doesn’t just focus on individuals. Whenever any of our kids get individual recognition, they’re quick to realize that the rest of the team helped them to achieve it.

Happy: I’m proud to say that we have “cheerlebrities” every year at every level. I hope and like to think that we coach our kids to walk a little taller and step a little bigger because they feel [like they’re] important to a greater cause. We also teach that doing your job off the mat is just as important as completing your job on the mat. Doing your job off the mat is maintaining and displaying good character at all times. A philosophy of the tribe spirit is “Together we are stronger.”

CBN: You’ve both been involved in all-stars since the beginning. How do you view the changes that have occurred in the industry over the years?

Susan: Oh, my! I remember when there were no levels and not many divisions, just age groups. That was crazy. I love that we now have levels so that all kids of any skill level can shine in a routine. I also love that we now compete on spring floors. I think that keeps the injury rate down and is easier on the athletes’ bodies when they train.

Happy: We’ve made huge strides and backpedaled a little. I think that it’s great that most teams don’t look like drag queens in all the crazy glitter makeup anymore! We now have a more centralized rule system and governing bodies, but the process [still needs to be refined]. I think that the only way for everyone to be on board is to be educated in all the processes that voting for changes goes through. Until we can have a governing body made up of individuals who don’t look at what’s best for their program, but what’s best for the industry, we’re always going to have issues arise.

CBN: Where do you think the industry is headed from here?

Susan: I think we’ll see continued focus on safety and instruction as skills increase.

Happy: I hope we see fewer divisions and more male cheerleaders becoming male athletes. I’m done watching males who can tumble into a split but can’t toss to hands. Males need to realize they can perform as a strong male. Males can dance very masculine-like and get the crowd to go just as crazy, but for some reason they’re choosing to shimmy and shake like females. This year at Worlds, I’d like to encourage all gym owners and coaches to have our males perform as males.

CBN: What are your thoughts on the introduction of Level 4.2, with a decreased emphasis on tumbling? Does ACE have any plans to start a Level 4.2 team?

Susan: I love the 4.2 idea! I wish it’d been around four years ago when I had the Lady Braves. They were an amazing Level 2 team that could do just about any stunt.

Happy: I’m not a fan. Yes, we’ve had teams that could fit into that category, but I think it’s another division for teams to run away from [more advanced teams] to get a banner.

CBN: Is there anything that’s surprised you during your 10 years of coaching ACE and being involved in the all-star industry?

Susan: There have been lots of surprises, but most have been good. Everyday I’m awed and inspired by the level of commitment from our athletes and their dedication to our Tribe family. I guess that’s more amazement than surprise, but it’s great just the same!

Happy: How many true friends I’ve been blessed with through this sport. The relationships I’ve made with event producers, gym owners, coaches, athletes, parents and the media keeps growing every year, and it’s such a humbling experience to think about it. I’m truly grateful to call all-star cheerleading my job!

For more on ACE All-Stars of Alabama, visit aceallstarsofalabama.com.