By Adam Zuvanich
Avalanche-Journal

Miami might be the hottest spot on the planet this week, and Travasha Winfrey has been at the center of the sizzle.

The Indianapolis Colts Cheerleader has been busy with guest appearances and photo shoots since arriving in South Florida on Tuesday, and she’s done her fair share of shopping and lounging on the beach. Winfrey also has taken advantage of Miami’s night life. She was a VIP at a party hosted by the Kardashians, and she’s mingled with countless other celebrities and famous athletes, including former Dallas Cowboys Terrell Owens and Deion Sanders.

Winfrey figures to have even more fun today, when she’ll perform on the field during Super Bowl XLIV between the Colts and New Orleans Saints.

“Right now it’s, like, surreal. I don’t know how to explain it,” said Winfrey, who even got a tattoo to commemorate the occasion. “I’m just kind of in a dream, just passing along slowly. I think it won’t hit me until I walk out on that field and look up and realize I’m at Super Bowl XLIV.”

It’s already been a once-in-a-lifetime experience for the 2006 Coronado graduate, but it nearly passed her by. Winfrey considered not making the trip to Miami with the rest of the Colts cheerleaders, because her heart is back home in Lubbock.

Winfrey’s grandmother, Priscilla Gilmore, died of breast cancer on Jan. 28. Her funeral was Wednesday in Lubbock, and Winfrey would have been there if not for the blessing of her family.

“She was really struggling with coming back (or not), because it’s a big opportunity in Miami,” said Winfrey’s mother, Betty Gilmore. “Her grandpa actually called her and told her that this is what her grandmother would have wanted. I know it relieved her a little bit, but I know her heart is still here.”

The 21-year-old Winfrey, who visited her grandmother last month, said she makes it back to Lubbock about four times a year and still keeps in touch with some of her friends from Coronado. She also stays plenty busy in Indianapolis, where she’s more than an NFL Cheerleader.

Winfrey is a college student at Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis, where she’s majoring in tourism, conventions and events management, and she teaches at Butler University’s Jordan Academy of Dance and at the Indy Dance Club. She’s also delved into modeling, acting and singing.

“It’s just so exciting,” said Winfrey, who appeared on the Price Is Right game show during a summer vacation to Los Angeles. “I just don’t want it to stop. It’s like a roller coaster that keeps going up.”

Her part-time job with the Colts has been a highlight, and it gave Winfrey the chance to tour Europe and the Middle East last year while entertaining American soldiers. But she knows she can’t roam the sidelines forever, saying, “It’s one of those things where you reach your prime pretty fast.”

Winfrey said she aspires to be a model or actress, and her passion for performing was evident early on. Her mother said she used to walk around the kitchen using a spoon as a microphone, and Winfrey was often working on dance moves and trying to emulate performers such as Beyonce.

“This is what she’s always loved,” Gilmore said. “She’s made us very, very proud - not just with cheering for the Colts but overall. She’s been a great kid.

“She’s living, I guess, the beginning of her dream. I know it’s just the beginning.”

Speaking of beginnings, Winfrey’s were fairly humble. She was a cheerleader at Irons Junior High but not at Coronado, where she tried out twice for the pom squad but didn’t make it.

Instead she became a mascot for the Mustangs - “I was the first and pretty sure the only mascot to be homecoming queen,” Winfrey said - and she also played basketball and volleyball and ran track. She participated in beauty pageants as well, winning a crown as Miss Teen North Texas.

Winfrey said her experience with the Coronado pom squad made her hesitant about trying out with the Colts cheerleading squad, but after spending two years on the dance team at IUPUI and receiving constant encouragement from her parents, she worked up the nerve to give it a shot.

According the Theresa Pottratz, the Colts’ cheerleading coordinator, Winfrey was an immediate hit because of her dancing ability and personality.

“I never thought I would be doing dancing as my profession. I couldn’t even make the Coronado pom squad,” said Winfrey, who has survived two, fiercely competitive tryouts with the Colts. “It made me persevere for more, and I’m doing a lot now.”

Now Winfrey is living her dream, and she’s only one Colts win away from earning a Super Bowl ring. But if the Colts beat the Saints today for their second championship in four years, Winfrey might have to keep that ring under lock and key.

“If she does get a Super Bowl ring, I’m trying to see if I can bribe her to give it to her mother,” Gilmore joked. “So far, it’s not working.”

[Travasha at Colts.com]

By Bill Flick
Pantagraph.com

On a typical game-day Sunday, Cassandra Isaacs is up by 5:45 a.m., on her way to Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis by 6:30 and on the field at 7 sharp Indiana time to begin practicing for the game.

Just like Peyton Manning.

A member of the Indianapolis Colts Cheerleading squad, she works out endlessly, watches her diet continually and even has her body-fat measured randomly, to make sure she’s keeping up a personalized training schedule.

Just like Peyton Manning.

Required to make a specific number of public appearances in a season, she also has 20 different uniforms in her closet and a blue “Colts” on her practice duffle.

Just like Peyton Manning.

Yup, an athletic, striking 25-year-old from Normal, Cassandra Isaacs is a lot like star QB Peyton Manning … well, except for this:

He makes $14 million a year.

She makes about $75 a week.

“If I make enough money just to pay for all the gas to get from Bloomington-Normal to Indy two or three times a week,” Cassandra laughs, “I’m happy.”

Thanks no doubt to movies or Playboy magazine spreads, a common perception these days is that NFL Cheerleaders have glamorous lifestyles, drive BMW coupes and indulge in frolicsome trysts with the players. Apparently the fact is, these are all women practically working for free where, as one NFL Cheerleading Web site puts it, “the locker-room janitress has a better chance of dating a player.”

So why, one might ask, do they do it?

“The minute you put on that rhinestone belt and rhinestone horseshoe and get on the field,” says Cassandra, “there’s an excitement … a ‘wow’ you just can’t quite describe.”

A Normal West High graduate, this is Cassandra’s first year at the helm of a set of blue-and-silver pompoms, boots and the glint of national TV.

If you catch her on Monday, you’ll see a full time employee at State Farm in Bloomington where she works in agency recruiting. If you catch her at night, you might find her at Illinois State University where she is working on her master’s degree.

If you catch her down on the Lucas Oil Stadium sidelines on a day like today, when the Colts battle the New York Jets for the right to play in the Super Bowl, you’ll see one busy person.

On her 32-member dance squad is an account manager and a sales supervisor. There’s a grade school teacher, a dental hygienist and a hospital’s director of patient care.

Twice a week, on Tuesday and Thursday, they all travel to Indy (Cassandra is the lone non-Hoosier on the squad) to practice from 6:30 to 9.

As a rule, there are no mothers. Few moms want to put down a baby on Sundays to wave pompoms and do Rockette leg kicks.

Because of the time consumed and the weekend workload, having a serious romantic relationship is difficult, too.

Then there is age. While Brett Favre plays at 40 and Peyton Manning is 33, the average NFL cheerleader is 25.

“Unless I can find a really good plastic surgeon,” says Cassandra, “I doubt I’ll be doing this at 40.”

Yes, for all the glamour and glitz to an NFL Cheerleader, there is the much more unheralded rigor. “You don’t get much sleep. You are constantly busy,” says Cassandra. “I do this because, if not for needing money, I’d dance all day. I love it that much. But it’s not all that you think.”

Yes, on Monday, Peyton Manning will awaken and, if successful today, prepare to head to Miami for the lights, the glamor, the glitter of Super Bowl XLIV. And Cassandra will go back to recruiting insurance agents in Bloomington.

Sis boom … ahhh, real life.

Click here to check out photos from last weekend’s action!

By Danielle Turnbull
Ball State Daily News

Lauren Greene is a senior marketing major at Ball State and is in her second year of cheering for the Colts following years of cheering and dancing in her youth. She grew up surrounded by football because her dad was the football coach for her high school.

“I pretty much grew up on a football field,” Greene said. “I cheered as soon as I was able to in school.”

Four years ago, Greene came to Ball State to cheer for the football team. For her sophomore year, she joined the Code Red dance team. Her fellow dancers on the team encouraged her to try out for the Colts.

“So I just decided to go for it,” Greene said.

Senior dance and exercise science double major Sara Falconer became a Colts cheerleader when a friend of hers wanted to try out for the squad. Her friend had always talked about it, so the two of them tried out together. They looked up information and started going to clinics. Tryouts rolled around, and the two of them made the team on their first shot.

College kept senior telecommunications major Lauren Madden from trying out for the Colts earlier than last April. She was in a sorority and busy with schoolwork. However, now that she’s in her fifth year at Ball State, her schedule has opened up, allowing her the opportunity to try out. She said friends and family helped throughout the process.

“I had a lot of friends on the squad already, and they helped me,” Madden said. “My mom was definitely a huge help. I tried out, and it was probably the most nerve-racking thing I’ve ever done.”

Being a cheerleader for an NFL team is not an easy job. The cheerleaders have two practices a week on Tuesday and Thursday nights from 6 to 9 p.m. They also have 20 community service appearances throughout the state that they’re required to complete each season. These two-hour events include signing autographs and meeting fans in the Indianapolis area.

All members of the squad are required to be at games six hours early, which means they have to be in Indianapolis at 7 a.m. if a game is at 1 p.m. In these cases, they have to leave Muncie by 5:30 a.m.

“It’s an early, early day for all of us,” Madden said.

There’s also a diet and workout plan the cheerleaders must follow. They must workout with their trainer at least once a week. Along with that, they have to make it to the gym four to five times a week.

Despite the rigorous demands, Falconer said her schedule doesn’t bother her or her schoolwork.

“I wouldn’t say that it interferes,” she said. Other than being unable to schedule classes late on Tuesdays or Thursdays, “I haven’t run into any problems at all.”

Instructors on campus help make this easier. Professors have been understanding of the cheerleaders’ situation and allow them to make up work whenever they need to. Greene said that they’re treated like other student athletes on campus. It’s really all about organization.

“I constantly live off a list. I have a list everyday of what I need to get done and what time, and I just go by that list and try not to alter from it,” Greene said.

However, the women won’t even be thinking about schoolwork this weekend as the Colts take on the Jets in the AFC Championship. All the girls are excited for the big event.

“I’m ecstatic about the Colts being in the playoffs,” Madden said. “I mean, I thought the regular season games were fun, but the playoff games are amazing. There are just so many people there and the fans are even more riled up than usual.”

Greene has seen the day coming all along.

“I knew that this team was a really strong team,” Greene said. “We’ve had some really good rookies come in and we had some younger guys from previous years that have stepped up to starting positions.”

Greene said that cheering for the Colts is not just a good gig, but a life-changing experience.

“It definitely made me a very independent person because I’ve had to really rely on myself to be able to stay focused and stay determined and get through school, get through workouts every week and practices and get to and from there and to be able to maintain a part-time job,” Greene said.

Madden said that the experience has led to her meeting other people she never would have met otherwise.

“I’ve met so many girls that I have a lot in common with that I probably would have never met if I hadn’t done Colts, even the girls from Ball State,” Madden said. “It’s just been a great experience. I mean, just saying that you’re a Colts cheerleader is really cool. It’s a great job, why not? You get to throw on your makeup and your rhinestones and go out on the field and dance for fans.”

Falconer agrees but adds that she’s gained much more than responsibility and friends. It has given her the opportunity to be a role model for young girls, especially young cheerleaders. She said they watch her every move.

[Lauren at Colts.com]

By Tara Jones
Ball State Daily News

At 11 p.m., Breanna Fonner is just getting back to her apartment in Muncie. Even though she still has homework to do, she is unable to focus because her brain wants to “shut down.” Her day began at 8 a.m. and since then she had juggled attending class, studying, working out, an hour car ride to Indianapolis with five other girls, three-and-a-half hours of learning new routines and another hour trip back to Muncie.

This is just a typical day for Fonner, a Ball State University junior and NFL cheerleader for the Indianapolis Colts. However, she isn’t alone — five other Ball State students/Colts cheerleaders manage working a full-time job and being full-time students.

OVERCOMING MISCONCEPTIONS

Jessica Mendez, a senior telecommunications major from South Bend, has been cheerleading competitively for 10 years and is in her third season with the Colts. She decided to transfer to Ball State from Indiana University South Bend because her parents were Ball State alumni and she could be closer to the training facility. However, the Ball State six are not the only cheerleaders attending college.

“I think we’re the biggest group from a university,” she said. “We pull up and people say, ‘Oh, the Ball State girls are here!’”

Some of the other cheerleaders on the Colts squad are attending Purdue University, Indiana State University, Indiana University and IUPUI

“That’s one of the biggest misconceptions,” she said. “Many people think we’re just pretty faces with nothing else to us. But we’re intelligent women. Nearly everyone on the team is either in college or just graduated,” she said.

BEGINNING A DREAM

Fonner, a human resource management major from Evansville, was always a fan of football but becoming a Colts cheerleader was a dream she envisioned in college.
“I had two older brothers, so I grew up watching football,” she said.

Fonner never participated in cheerleading before, but had been dancing since she was 3 and performing since she was 8. However, during a visit home her freshman year at Ball State, she was inspired to start cheerleading when her family was watching a Colts game.

“I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, that looks like so much fun!’” she said.

Even though her family was skeptical she would pursue it, she looked up information online and continued to gain interest in cheering for an NFL team. Her efforts paid off after she went to tryouts and made the squad.

For Larissa Stanfield, a public communications major from Peru, Ind., becoming a Colts cheerleader was a dream of hers since she was young, especially since she was raised as a Colts fan.

“My dad took me to the games when I was younger. I’ve always wanted to be a Colts cheerleader,” Stanfield said.

THE MOST STRESSFUL MONTH

Stanfield has been cheerleading since the fifth grade and has been dancing since she was 3 years old. After looking up to a girl who was an Indiana Pacers cheerleader, Stanfield decided to try out for the Colts when she was 19. She reached the finals but didn’t make the team. After taking a year off and working hard, improving her fitness and taking dance classes in Indianapolis, she once again tried her luck for the squad at the Colts Training Facility in Indianapolis.

This tryout process takes about a month and can begin with as many as 400 women who must learn routines and perform them in front of a panel of judges. If women weren’t cut in the initial round, they can be invited to practice as a team for three weeks, where cuts will continually be made throughout, Stanfield said. Last year it began in April, so not only did she have to prepare her routines but also for Finals Week.

“It was the most stressful month of my life,” Stanfield said.

This process ends with the final audition night where cheerleaders-to-be showcase their talents in front of family, friends and judges at the Pavilion in Indianapolis. At the end of the night, and as the hopefuls wait in a different room, the names comprising the new squad are announced.

Even with her improvements, she never believed she would make the cut, she said.
“There are so many other girls, they’re all so beautiful, fun and great dancers. They only took 32 girls, but everyone there deserved it,” Stanfield said.

Despite her doubts, Stanfield made the squad and is now in her second season for the Colts.

FULL-TIME JOB

Not only do the six Ball State students cheer for the Colts during their home games; they are also required to make 25 public appearances before the playoffs — if this isn’t accomplished, they do not get to cheer.

Practices have also been extended to learn new routines for the AFC Championship this Sunday. Despite the work involved and not being able to live the ‘typical life of a college student,’ being a Colts cheerleader has been a life-changing experience for Fonner.
“I get to meet 300 fans in one day. It’s exciting, something I’ll never forget,” she said. “It’s a lot of work, but it’s worthwhile.”

[Indianapolis Colts Cheerleaders]

In the Thursday special section of the Indianapolis Star, “Colts Nation,” Colts Cheerleader Alison M is featured.  The story is below, some photos are online here, and some photos I took of Alison and her notable husband from the Jets game on December 27th are posted at the bottom:

A FAMILY AFFAIR

Robert Scheer

Indianapolis Star

Before the team arrives, before the tailgaters have fired up their first grill, a Colts cheerleader makes her way into Lucas Oil Stadium to start her day.  Alison M. (squad members do not use their full names as a security measure) hauls in a suitcase full of makeup and clothing before the Broncos game.  Alison, a member of the squad for the past four years, is on time for practice at 7 a.m., six hours before kickoff.  After an hour or two of practice, the cheerleaders deal with makeup, hair, and autograph sessions before performing a dance routine before kickoff.  During the game, the Colts mascot, Blue, is always friendly with Alison.  “Blue is definitely one of my favorite people on the field.  He always makes me laugh.” That might be because Alison is married to Blue.  They met and fell in love because of the Colts.  Alison defends her husband’s career choice with a laugh.  “That’s his full-time job.  He dresses up like a horse and gets to be a big kid.”

The Indianapolis Colts Cheerleaders responded to a survey with results at the Indy.com and Metromix web sites.  Check it out here

The latest NFL Cheerleader gallery on SportsIllustrated.com features squads from the Bengals, Colts, Dolphins, Falcons, and Redskins. Click here to go there now.

Congratulations to Holly B, who was named the Colts Cheerleaders’ Pro Bowl selection for 2010!  Besides her six year commitment to the squad, Holly resides in Terre Haute, so over an hours drive from Indianapolis.  Holly is a graduate (marketing and sales) of Indiana State University in Terre Haute, and I believe that she is the best thing out of ISU since Larry Bird.  Come to think of it, Holly and the Colts are having a much better season than Larry’s Pacers, so I’ll take Holly over Larry any day.

Besides cheering for a team that requires quite a drive for appearances, practices, and games, Holly merely manages a medical practice, is investing in a new restaurant/nightclub, serves as a fitness instructor, runs in marathons, spends time with her loves (her husband and two Shar-Peis, Raisin and Reecie); ergo, not too much going on with Holly!  Holly, you are exhausting me!!  No wonder Holly prides herself on being very organized and ready for a challenge.

Holly has performed representing the Colts on three military tours, including trips to Egypt, Jordan, Greece, Italy, Spain, the South Pacific, and Kosovo.  After all Holly has provided in terms of talent and time to the Colts organization and the community, it is certainly a well deserved designation that Holly will serve among the best of the best on the sidelines for the Pro Bowl.  Congratulations Holly!!!!!

Holly cheers at the 27Dec game versus the Jets

Well deserved Holly!!

The newest NFL cheerleader gallery on SportsIllustrated.com features dance teams from the Cowboys, Chiefs, Colts, Vikings, Texans, Bucs, and Falcons. Click here to go to the photo pages.