DCC Alumni Spotlight – Vicki Foster

Vicki was born in Kansas City and lived in Philly growing up, but she was exposed to Dallas often because her parents were HUGE Cowboys fans. There were not cheerleaders at the time, so it wasn’t until college that Vicki started dreaming of becoming a DCC. She attended the North Texas State University where she served as leader of the Song team; there were 6 DCC on her college song team at the time, which is where her thoughts of trying out started to come about.

It was 1984 when Vicki first auditioned, and at the time there were over 2000 women trying out to earn on a spot on the team. Vicki didn’t come with much dance experience, but she had the look, and the communication skills that screamed ‘America’s Sweetheart’ to Suzanne and the other judges at the time. They had to announce her name 3 times at tryouts before Vicki finally realized she had made the team – her feeling of initial shock was evident, but everyone could see the true beauty and brains that Vicki would bring to the team.

Throughout training camp, Vicki had to work hard to pick up the dances -an ability she thought she didn’t have compared to the other girls, and she had to work to become flexible for the kick-line. While Vicki was on the team, similar to myself, she was one of the older girls who juggled multiple jobs and activities simultaneously. She was working to become a realtor, and had many other responsibilities like a 3:30am newspaper route every morning – that was after late night practices and training camp nights! The best part about the team, in Vicki’s eyes, was the fact that everyone cheered each other on. She loved being a part of a group of women who always supported one another, and rooted for each other’s success. When she popped her hamstring during her 2^nd year, it was her teammates that got her through the struggles and tough times of healing.  Still to this day Vicki is close friends with her besties from the team back in the day – Kelli, Tina, Tamara… the DCC sisterhood gives you your best friends and own personal cheerleaders for life, which is one of the reasons it is so special.

Vicki’s three years of cheering were nothing less than fulfilling. In 1984, was the ‘year of the firsts!’ – the DCC performed in the first ever halftime performance at Texas Stadium; her all-time favorite halftime performance is none other than the famous, ‘Thriller’! She talked about how different it was back then dancing to the band, and depending on what corner your group was in, you had to really listen for the beats to make sure you stayed in sync with the other groups. Another ‘first’ was the overseas game the team traveled to in London. The Cowboys played the Bears that season, and the entire team went to cheer on the team in London – wow! Vicki got to travel a lot throughout her DCC career, with Show Group at the West Pack Tour being another unforgettable experience, among many others; however, that trip to London was the first ever time the Cowboys went oversees to play a season game all together. And lastly, that 1984 year was the first time the DCC presented the rookies with their pinky rings at the end of year banquet. In the past the girls received their rings at the first game, but it was Vicki’s first year when they had to make it through the entire season in order to earn their official right into the sisterhood, represented by the pinky ring.

Looking back, Vicki has so many fun memories that she still smiles and laughs at today. I was able to learn about how similar yet different time as a DCC was back then – where Vicki and her teammates showed off their banana comb hair they called ‘the squirrel’, we today have extensions and long curls that we want to ‘jhuzz’ and ‘tease up to the heavens’; and where they looked out for each other’s ‘squobia’ to make sure the square in each other’s panty hose was not showing, we today do similar ‘check checks’ for reach other so we all look our best and feel confident. And a something that won’t and hasn’t changed since the 80’s until now, the tradition of our pre-game prayer circle- Vicki’s favorite tradition.

To this day Vicki is an active DCC alumni, participating in the games and still sharing her stories with her forever DCC sisters. It was an honor to interview one of the legendary and most favorited cheerleaders from the 80’s, and I look forward to passing down her memories and experiences, as well as my own, to another DCC sister of ours in the future!

DCC Molly