'Cheer dad' roots for his daughter in viral video
Any parent who thinks they are their kid's ultimate cheerleader really needs to meet "cheer dad."
His name is Hekili Holland and his cheer routine from the football stands has been watched by almost 3 million people so far on social.
The routine, Holland told "Good Morning America," is for the fight song.
"The band plays and the girls perform it after every touchdown or score," he said. "I was trying to learn it by watching the cheerleaders. But Mackenzi [Holland's daughter] finally taught me one day. I’ve always loved the atmosphere of high school and college football. The band, the excitement, everything. It just another way to have fun and show support."
"Cheer dad," as Holland has come to be known, has been performing from the stands for about three weeks. But on Nov. 1 at the York High vs. Warhill High dame in Yorktown, Virginia, he was caught on camera.
Scott Willard, who posted the video to his Facebook page, told "GMA" that when he spotted Holland, his "first thought was this guy is legit. No fear. Complete support for his daughter and the other cheerleaders. I just thought he was the cool dad."
And while he didn't actually expect so many people to watch the video, he said, he did predict it in jest.
"In the fourth quarter I leaned over and jokingly said to my wife if York scores again I’m making this guy viral," Willard said.
With 10,000 overwhelmingly positive comments on his post, "cheer dad" is the real MVP.
"I started reading comments and I realized it's really touching people in some way. A lot of humor with moms threatening dads to step it up to just people getting a smile or laugh out of it," Willard said.
As for Holland, he was "just having fun," he said. But, "if this bring joy to folks then I 'm happy to be that guy."
Editor's note: This was originally published on Nov. 5, 2019.
