Pictoral Proof: Phyllis from The Office was Once Big-haired NFL Cheerleader

By Rob Sylvester
NBC Sports

As our esteemed editor Rick Chandler made note of on Friday, there’s been a surprising revelation for fans of NBC’s long-running sitcom The Office: program stalwart & favorite put-down target of the lovably sociopathic Michael Scott, idle-minded Dunder-Mifflin employee Phyllis was once an NFL cheerleader. Well not the character, but the actress who plays her — who is unimaginatively also named Phyllis (Smith) — was once a paid pom-pom waver for the football Cardinals of St. Louis, before her life took her on a decidedly different career path (and workout plan, but hey, that happens to the best of us).

And now, due to the tried-and-true Internet standard of proof — “pics or it didn’t happen” — we can see at the right that it did in fact happen, along with a deliciously old-school hairstyle and a cheerleading uniform much different than the sartorial skimpiness you’d find on today’s sideline mavens in Dallas or Washington or even sensible St. Louis. Time, once again, makes fools of us all.

No word if other walking punch-lines from the work-place satire (looking at you, Kevin and Stanley) are hiding equally scandalous pasts, but if a picture surfaces of either of them in a cheerleading uniform, you can bet your ass we’ll let you know.