Ateneo was the first school to field an organized cheering squad in the Philippines. Inspired by how American colleges made use of organized cheering to bolster their teams' morale, Fr. Austin Dowd, S.J introduced this organized cheering form to the Philippines. He recruited the first three cheerleaders of Ateneo, namely, Leon Ma. "Rah-jah" Guerrero HS '31 AB '35, "Crown Prince" Elpediforo Cuna HS '30 AB '34 and Jumpin' Jess Paredes HS '31 AB '35. During those early years, there were only three cheerleaders each NCAA season and they were fondly called the "Princes of Personality". The name Blue Babble Battalion came much later. There is no official record in Ateneo history when this name was introduced. Ateneo alumni old-timers only recall that this name was already in use in the 1950s. However, cheerleader Jesse Paredes, HS '54 AB '58 (son of one of the pioneer cheerleaders of Ateneo, Jess Paredes), clarified that "the Blue Babble Battalion was the Ateneo gallery, not the cheerleaders. That is why it is a battalion".