Jesse White Tumblers to perform during Friday Du Quoin Fair parade

This year's Du Quoin State Fair Twilight Parade welcomes the Secretary of State Jesse White internationally known tumbling team, which has been thrilling audiences since 1959.

The parade steps off from the Du Quoin State Bankpark at 6 p.m. Friday and ends at the gates of the 91st fair. The parade will include approximately 90 entries including the Lightning McQueen car.

Before serving his nation in the military, before his stellar athletic career and long before entering politics, Jesse White grew up an accomplished tumbler.

Decades later, the acrobatic performances of the Jesse White Tumblers can frequently be seen during half-time shows for the National Basketball Association, the National Football League and Major League Baseball games. The team entertains at business and sporting events year-round, including colleges and universities nation-wide.

Jesse White, founder and coach, created the team in 1959 to provide a recreational, athletic, educational and cultural enrichment experience for the team members. This is a juvenile delinquency prevention program that is designed to help youngsters grow tall and straight. The members are required to abide by Jesse White's strict rules, which include staying in school, maintaining a "C" average in academic coursework and staying away from gangs and drugs.

Since the team's inception, over 13,500 young men and women have benefited from the program. Jesse White's key to success is "tough love." He serves as coach, teacher, friend, mentor, confident and surrogate father to the members.

They have appeared on Late Night with David Letterman, The Tonight Show starring Jay Leno, Good Morning America, The Jenny Jones Show, Disney Channel's Mickey Mouse Club, and CBS' How'd They Do That.

The team has also been featured in commercials for Coca-Cola, Jewel Food Store, the Chicago White Sox, Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Walter E. Smith Furniture. In addition, they have appeared in the movies Heaven is a Playground, Ferris Buehler's Day Off and performed stunts in the movie The Meteor Man starring Robert Townsend.

The Tumblers have performed during the 52nd and 53rd presidential inaugural parades in addition to the 2010 President Barack Obama inauguration parade. Fifteen current and former members of the team have toured with the Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus as the Chicago Kidz. The tumblers have also toured and performed with the Harlem Globetrotters.