Former Chapmanville Resident Headed to the Pro Bowl

By Brooks Taylor
WOWK-TV

Stacey Sanderson is heading to Hawaii. The former Chapmanville resident and current member of the Top Cats, the cheerleading squad for the Carolina Panthers will represent the team at the 2011 NFL Pro Bowl.

“I am still in shock,” she said. “I’ve known for a couple of weeks now, but I am still shocked that it’s me.”

Stacey’s teammates voted her in to the game, and that is something she said is humbling.

“I honestly had no clue that this could happen to me, but it does and it feels so good to know that they think that much of you,” she said.

Her mother, Linda Griffith, said this honor is something that has been in the making since about the time Stacey started to walk.

“Stacey has always been a cheerleader all her life,” Griffith said. “She started doing cartwheels probably at the age of two.”

Of course she also said she didn’t know cheerleading could take her this far.

“Never imagined in a million years,” Griffith said. “You just don’t think of things like that, you don’t decide for your children what they are going to do.”

This isn’t Stacey’s first trip to Hawaii, when she was cheering for Chapmanville; she got to cheer in the Hula Bowl. While she said that trip was fun, she is glad to get the chance to go again.

“When you are 16 I don’t think you even know what is going on and you cant appreciate it, so I know this time I will take a million pictures, I will soak in every second that I’m out there,” she said.

I addition to cheering for the Panthers, Stacey has also cheered for the Charlotte Bobcats of the NBA and Charlotte’s hockey team the Checkers.