DCC Alumni Spotlight – Carla Barnes Powers

I had the honor of interviewing Alumni Carla Powers! Carla cheered one season from 77-78 and got the opportunity to be a part of Super Bowl 12 in New Orleans against Denver.  It was so cool to hear all about her time as a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader and share stories based on both of our experiences. Carla grew up in the DFW area where her father worked for the Dallas Morning News.  They had season tickets and would attend games frequently which allowed her to be very educated on the sport and Cowboys franchise.  She told me that even in 1977, they were still required to take a test during the audition process and she only missed one question!  While cheering, she attended The University of North Texas and was in a sorority, just like me! We both shared experiences of driving back and forth from Denton and what practices were like while she was a cheerleader.  They had practice around two times a week at Texie Waterman’s studio and her group leader was Shannon Werthmann.

When it comes to game day, Carla told me how electric the games were and couldn’t believe that the players were even able to make plays with how loud it always was in the stadium. Due to the fact that there wasn’t a roof at Texas Stadium, she said it was either extremely hot or cold on the field depending on the time of year. We laughed about how lucky current girls are that our poms are significantly smaller than they used to be.  For the Super Bowl, they took a plane and the airline was so excited about them flying, they auctioned off seats to the public to be able to fly with the cheerleaders.  She said that the Super Bowl was so much fun and an experience she will always remember.  When it comes to her most memorable appearance, she told me that the cheerleaders got the opportunity to be on the Osmond Brothers Show with Bob Hope.  Carla was also in the first Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders calendar that was Norman Rockwell themed and filmed in a local studio.  After our phone conversation, we both sent each other our calendar photos and game day photos. She still has all her memorabilia such as paystubs, parking passes, and other things from the Super Bowl.  She keeps it all in her mother’s china cabinet and sent me photos of that as well. We also talked about how special the pinky ring was and how she was gifted hers at the Alumni Reunion two years ago!

It was so much fun getting to share all our experiences as Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders and we look forward to getting together and getting coffee soon! It is so special that we were able to make this connection and it truly shows that, regardless of what year you cheered, you will always have that undeniable bond and be a part of the DCC sisterhood!

DCC Alexis

Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders vs Minnesota Vikings