Charlie Kirk’s mentor, Varsity Spirit and Universal Cheerleading Association founder Jeff Webb, passed away last week following a pickleball accident. He was 76 years old.
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According to Cheer Daily, Varsity Spirit president Bill Seely revealed in an email that Webb had fallen and sustained a severe head injury while playing pickleball earlier this month. He was hospitalized following the incident, but his family made the hard decision to take him off life support last week.
“Jeff played a pivotal role in shaping cheerleading as it exists today,” Seely wrote in the email. “And in building a community that has impacted generations of athletes, coaches, and teams. In recent years, his contributions have helped grow the sport both in the United States and globally, including his work with the International Cheer Union, which achieved full recognition by the International Olympic Committee in 2021.”
The entrepreneur, a former University of Oklahoma yell leader, initially entered the cheer world working at the National Cheerleading Association. He founded the Universal Cheerleaders Association in 1974 and then founded Varisty Spirit within the same year.
Decades later, Varsity merged with Herff Jones, and Webb served as president and CEO of the company. He stepped down from Varsity in 2020, nearly 50 years after he founded the company.
Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA Pays Tribute to Jeff Webb
On Friday, Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA posted a nearly 10-minute tribute to Jeff Webb.
The organization described Webb as being a “dear friend” to Turning Point USA and Kirk.
“He will be greatly missed,” Turnig Point USA added.
Webb has been described as an early mentor of Kirk. They met when Kirk was 24 years old.
Following Kirk’s assassination in September 2025, Webb spoke out. “[He] had it all,” Webb told Real America’s Voice. “Charisma, faith, respect for everyone.”
Webb also said that the US may have “lost a future president,” suggesting he had expected Kirk to run for president eventually. The entrepreneur then stated that Kirk was a “giant of the MAGA movement.”
Webb was among those who attended the ceremony where Kirk was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.