By james art The Carolina Panthers TopCats cheerleading team works to “cultivate relationships” and build talent pools at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs).
On a perfect day for college football, the TopCats traveled to Winston-Salem State University this month to collaborate on a halftime show.
At Bowman Gray Stadium, they joined WSSU’s Powerhouse of Red & White varsity cheerleading team and the school’s Scarlet Lace dance team to perform a dance routine to the music of Usher performed by the WSSU Marching Band.
Beyond the pompoms and flashy moves, the trip had more serious intentions, both parties agreed.
“I’m a big believer in ‘If you can see it, you can be it,'” said Chandale Lanuet, the TopCat head coach. “It was a really good way for people to be able to say, ‘I can be on the field in a uniform after college.’
NeSheila Washington, who coaches the Red & White’s powerhouse, said she hopes the collaboration will broaden her team’s horizons.
“I hope it opens a lot of people’s minds to, ‘I can do this too,'” she said of professional cheerleading.
About 17 percent of NFL cheerleaders are black, according to estimates widely attributed to Mhkeeba Pate, a former Seattle Seahawks cheerleader and host of the Pro Cheerleading Podcast.
On the TopCats team, about a third of the 25 cheerleaders are black, including Justine Lindsey, the first openly transgender cheerleader to compete on an NFL team, and Brandi Smith, a WSSU graduate.
Inclusion is not a one-time decision
Quentin DeBerry, Director of Inclusion and Belonging at Tepper Sports & Entertainment
In recent years, the TopCats have invited HBCU cheerleading coaches to help evaluate the TopCats’ tryouts, and last December the TopCats cheered along with WSSU and South Carolina State University during the Panthers’ “Inspire Change” game at Bank of America Stadium. The theme for this game was “Representation Matters: Celebrating Black Culture.”
“Inclusion is not a one-time decision,” Quentin DeBerry, director of inclusion and affiliation at Tepper Sports & Entertainment, said in a statement last December. “The daily choice is to open our hearts, expand our perspectives, and actively invite everyone to the table.”
Lanouette said preparation for the Oct. 12 performance in Winston-Salem began weeks earlier, when five TopCats cheerleaders and five Powerhouse of Red & White cheerleaders worked together to choreograph the routine and exchange practice videos.
The halftime show was also an opportunity for the WSSU cheerleaders to mix their traditional stomp and shake style of cheering with the more classic dance moves performed by the TopCats, Washington said.
“Stomp and shake is really our culture and genre of fun,” she said. “The TopCats set out to learn our style, and we set out to learn theirs, and it blended.”
The performance was a “nod of respect” for the two teams to learn dance styles and moves from each other, Lanut said, adding, “We took styles from them and they also took styles from us.”
After the performance, Washington declared the day a “beautiful Saturday.”
“Throw the confetti,” she said; “it’s been a great merger.”