Charlie Kirk’s longtime mentor has died following a bizarre and tragic pickleball accident.
Jeff Webb, 76, died after falling while playing pickleball and suffering a severe head injury, Cheer Daily reported. The 76-year-old was hospitalized after the accident, and his family later decided to take him off life support.
Webb was an influential figure in the world of cheerleading, founding the Universal Cheerleading Association (UCA) and Varsity Spirit, and later led Varsity Brands, which grew into a multibillion‑dollar company. Decades before that he was a “yell leader,” or a spirit leader, at the University of Oklahoma.
Webb later said in an interview he was not motivated by money, but rather by “discipline and keeping score.”
That interview appeared in a 2024 New York Times article about Webb titled, “How Cheerleading Became So Acrobatic, Dangerous and Popular.” The piece hails Webb as a singular force altering the future of cheerleading. “For decades, the sport has been shaped in large part by one company — and one man," the author writes.
For all Webb accomplished, he did have his fair share of critics, who called him names like “Dark Sith Lord,” and “John D. Rockefeller with glitter.”
He was also deeply involved in the conservative media world. Webb served as senior editor and co-publisher of the outlet Human Events. He also purchased the right-wing website The Post Millennial.
In his political work, Webb became an important early mentor to conservative activist and Turning Point USA CEO Charlie Kirk, who was shot and killed last year.
Webb stood with Kirk’s family at the White House when the late activist was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
After Kirk’s death, Webb told Real America’s Voice that the young activist “may well have been a future president.” He also said Kirk’s legacy was just beginning and that “tens of thousands of new chapters” of Turning Point USA were rising.
After Webb’s own death, Turning Point USA called him “a visionary who helped shape generations of young leaders,” described him as “a dear friend to Turning Point USA and Charlie,” and said he would be deeply missed.
The organization also released a nearly 10-minute video tribute to Webb with a caption calling him a “visionary who helped shape a generation of young leaders” and a dear friend to Kirk.
Other tributes have poured in from across the right-wing media world, also crediting Kirk with influencing some of Webb’s best-known projects.
Senior editor of Human Events, Jack Posobiec, said Webb took a chance at the outlet and at The Post Millennial after conversations with Kirk.
He is survived by his wife, Gina Webb, son Jeffrey Webb and daughter Caroline Webb Mason, as well as two grandchildren.
