Jackson County Blue Devils cheerleading head coach Leslie Letterman did not just grow up around the Blue Devils. She grew up as one of them.
Coming from a family of athletes who all played for Jackson County, Letterman said her earliest memories of sports were shaped by life alongside her brothers. Surrounded by competition, teamwork and school pride, she found her own path on the sidelines, discovering a passion for cheerleading that would eventually lead her back home as a coach.
“I had to be very versatile,” Letterman said. “I had to know how to shoot a basketball, know how to throw a football correctly. So I was always into sports and cheer, I guess I didn’t really know it at the time and it was there but I didn’t know it till later on.”
Letterman cheered all four years at Jackson County High School while also playing basketball, building a deep appreciation for both the athletic and leadership sides of school sports. Letterman said that versatility later became a defining trait in her coaching style, one that emphasizes understanding the game as much as leading the cheer.
After graduating from high school, Letterman attended Tennessee Tech University, earning her degree in 2010. Her connection to Jackson County never faded, and she soon returned to the Blue Devils’ program, first as an assistant coach for the Lady Blue Devils cheer team.
That learning period was brief. After just one season as an assistant, Letterman was named head coach, taking on the challenge of leading the program while balancing life as a young parent.
“It’s definitely tough when I first started this, all three of my kids were younger,” Letterman said. “They would have to go with me to all the ball games. Granted, they loved every minute of it at the time.”
Since taking over the program in 2018, Letterman has become a familiar presence at Jackson County, not only as the cheerleading head coach, but also as a full-time teacher at the school. Letterman said her role in the building and on the sidelines has allowed her to build strong relationships with students and athletes across multiple sports.
Now, her legacy is beginning to extend to the next generation. Letterman has three children, two of whom are already following the athletic path. One currently plays football at Jackson County, while another suits up for the basketball team.
“Even when I was little, I loved cheerleading,” Letterman said. “When my brother played middle school sports, I would go out with the middle school cheerleaders when I was younger and kind of sit in the gym with them and even get to cheer with them… so [the passion] has always been there.”
For Letterman, that passion, sparked in the stands and on the gym floor years ago, now lives on through the athletes she coaches and the family she is raising in the same Blue Devil tradition that shaped her own journey.