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Gary Salas cheers his way into USA's hearts

by Joan Aguon Charfauros

Guam - Former Dededo resident Gary Salas is making his mark by showing everyone just how much spirit he has. Born and raised on Guam, Salas attended Simon Sanchez High School and left the island during his junior year in 1999. Upon his arrival to the states, he auditioned for a dance production team during the summer before starting his senior year in California.

Salas loved to dance hip-hop for fun and not competitively as all the other auditioned candidates did and in the end he made the team and started his cheerleading experience.

He would join a group called Cheer San Francisco, an adult elite cheerleading group made up of all 60 volunteers that work for one mission which is to assist people and children that struggle with medical challenges. The team has been around for 30years and has traveled all around the world to spread their mission through a form of entertainment using elite advance stunts.

With CheerSF, Salas was afforded the opportunity to travel and perform in places like Amsterdam, Chicago, Las Vegas, & even during the 2008 presidential inauguration for Bill Clinton. But his biggest audience would be the over 20 million viewers as CheerSF tossed and tumbled their way through a previous season of NBCs America's Got Talent. The group survived the Hollywood round and the Las Vegas round, but was eliminated soon after.

Having a passion to dance and cheer, Salas eventually landed himself a spot on the Northern California Football League Pro-Cheerleading called the Island Glamours who cheered for a men's semi pro football team called the Islanders. Being on this team made Salas the first male to cheer professionally.

Salas hopes to come back to Guam and share his experiences and inspire others to follow their dreams, and for someone who has built a career out of cheering for others, the island of Guam cheers him on for making his mark.