Former East High Grad to Cheer at Pro Bowl
By Joey Millwood
BlueRidgeNow.com
When Laura Bebo was a cheerleader at East Henderson High, her focus was on one thing.
“When you’re in high school, you can’t see past Friday night,” she said.
That view has changed dramatically over the last three years. Not only is Bebo a cheerleader for the Carolina Panthers, but she’s heading to Hawaii to be in the NFL Pro Bowl on Sunday, Jan. 26.
As a high school cheerleader, the thought of cheering on Sundays never crossed her mind. It didn’t even cross her mind to audition for a collegiate team.
The 24-year-old graduated from East in 2007 and went to college at UNC Charlotte. At the encouragement of her friend, Jenny Baker, she tried out for the 49ers cheer team and ended up cheering on the Charlotte football team for the last three years of her schooling.
She graduated with degrees in environmental science and education, and is a science teacher at Brawley Middle, just north of Charlotte.
That’s one of her full-time jobs. Her other is being a TopCat.
Bebo has been a member of the TopCats for the last three years and was voted into the Pro Bowl by her teammates — one of the highest honors she has received.
“That’s the biggest honor,” Bebo said. “It’s an incredible feeling when your team thinks you’re worthy to go.”
And she is worthy, TopCat coach Richelle Williams said.
“Laura has demonstrated not only commitment and hard work, but a genuine passion for the Panthers organization and TopCats program,” Williams said. “I’m thrilled that Laura is representing the TopCats at the Pro Bowl in Hawaii. The fans will love her.”
Bebo has worked hard to get to this point. She was a little more prepared about cheering at the next level when she was on the verge of graduating from Charlotte. Again encouraged by Baker, Bebo tried out for the Panthers’ squad in the spring of 2011.
That also happened to be her final semester of college and the semester she spent student teaching.
It was a busy semester. That busy schedule, however, got busier by the next fall. Bebo was teaching from 7:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. and then fulfilling duties as a TopCat all over Charlotte and has maintained that routine for the last three years.
There are appearances through the week, two practices per week and on Sunday, she’s cheering in front of more than 70,000 fans.
“It’s so similar and it’s totally different in the same way,” she said of cheering in front of that large of a crowd.
The nervousness on Friday nights was different because she knew so many faces in the crowd. The large crowd is actually a little more comforting, she said, because there’s “no way that everyone can be looking at you.”
A lot of people were watching the Panthers this weekend as Cam Newton, Luke Kuechly and the team hosted the San Francisco 49ers Sunday in the second round of the NFC playoffs. The Panthers lost 23-10.
Bebo experienced the building excitement over the last three years. Her first year was also Newton’s first year with the franchise. This year, they made it to the playoffs for the first time since 2008.
“It’s just abuzz,” she said in the weeks before the game. “People can’t stop talking about it. It starts with the team. It’s translated to the fans. We can feel it. We can feel the excitement.”
And that excitement is something that Bebo never wants to let go of. Officially, she can only cheer professionally for 10 years, but she likes to wish she could be a TopCat forever.
“We want to live and breathe TopCat life for as long as they’ll have us,” Bebo said.
