Former Miss Bay County to cheerlead for Tennessee Titans during Detroit Lions game Sunday

Justin Engel
MLive.com
September 21, 2012

NASHVILLE, TENN. — A mid-Michigan native will cheer at Sunday’s Detroit Lions game against the Tennessee Titans in the Music City, but that encouragement won’t come from the bleachers and it won’t be directed at the home state team.

Meet Angie Rouech. The 28-year-old Kawkawlin native’s outgoing personality, charity and physical radiance have earned her a number of titles over the years, including Miss Bay County 2005.

She has a new role these days. On Sundays, she suits up in superhero-like fashion and transforms into one of those near-mythical creatures of American lore: The NFL cheerleader.

Rouech (pronounced roo-sh) is in her second year on the Titans cheer squad, and Sunday will mark the first time her team has faced the Lions since her arrival.

The road to those Tennessee sidelines was a challenging one, not always paved with success. But the payoff was worth the pain, she says now.

“I love gameday,” Rouech said in a phone interview from Nashville. “I love the feeling you get when you run out on the field.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

Star from the start

Performing for others has been a constant in Rouech’s life.

Even before she wore that Miss Bay County crown, and even before the 2002 Bay City Western High School grad was a cheerleader for the Warriors football team, she was attracting the spotlight through song, dance and theater.

“She did a lot of pageants when she was young, and musical theater,” said her mother, Sonya Rouech, who still lives in Kawkawlin. “She pretty much used every avenue possible that was in our city, whether it was (The Bay City) Players or the pageants or the high school events.”

Tammy Pelletier, a Bay City resident, was first wowed by the younger Rouech when she and Pelletier’s daughter attended Curtis Nelson Dance School together in Bay City.

Rouech was 5.

“She’s just amazing,” said Pelletier, who remains a family friend. “She’s got a heart of gold, too. Her soul is just as beautiful as she is.”

During those childhood years, Rouech’s soul first felt the pull of Tennessee, where her family sometimes visited.

“I fell in love with the state,” she said.

Rouech — a fan of the Detroit Tigers and other Michigan teams growing up — was fond enough of Tennessee that, when the NFL’s Houston Oilers moved there in 1997, she was “instantly a fan.” Later, the Oilers became the Titans.

Fast forward to 2005. After a stint as a student at Saginaw Valley State University, Rouech packed her bags for Nashville, hoping to become the Music City’s next big songstress.

“Growing up in Michigan, I was trying to bring a Motown flair to a country world,” she said of her musical style there.

Rouech struggled in her search for stardom. She recorded some demo songs, but never launched as a recognized talent in a town rich with them.

“I’m a very practical person,” she said. “It came to a point where I decided to start a career.”

Putting the microphone down and stepping back from the spotlight, Rouech snagged a sales job in 2010. It’s a career she continues today, working Monday to Friday as a marketing manager at a Nashville credit union.

Her day job, though, couldn’t scratch the itch she had since she first performed in front of audiences as a child.

So, when she saw an online advertisement announcing Titans cheerleader tryouts in 2011, Rouech stepped back onto center stage.

Over a two-week span, she survived a series of auditions that whittled down a group of 300 women to 27.

Describing the minute-long dance routine that decided the roster, she said, “It was the scariest moment in your life.”

When she learned she made the cut, it was one of the most “exciting,” Rouech said.

A year later, she made the team a second time.

Commitment

Rouech said life as an NFL cheerleader doesn’t stop on Sundays … or after the Super Bowl:

“It’s a year-long commitment.”

Rouech works 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at her marketing job on weekdays. After a quick stop home to clean up, change and eat, she’s off to a practice or team event for the Titans organization.

“June and July are pretty packed,” she said. “Now that we’re in season, we’re down to two or three nights a week. We have community appearances every other day, if not every day.”

Rouech and her cheerleading colleagues rile up the Nashville crowds during 10 home games a year. They spend most of the three-hour matchups dancing on the sidelines, she said.

While the group doesn’t travel with the football team for away games, that doesn’t mean they don’t travel.

This summer, Rouech visited Sandestin, Fla., where the cheerleaders modeled for their annual swimsuit calendar.

On the cover now is Rouech, adorned in a Titans-themed two-piece as she stands sun-kissed in the foreground of a sandy-white beach with three teammates.

“That was quite a surprise,” she said about first seeing the featured photo.

A tiny Titan

Despite the crowded schedule, Rouech said she maintains a social life.

“You find time for your friends,” she said. “My days are just a little bit longer than most.”

Rouech rarely returns to her hometown these days, although she did manage a 72-hour visit last weekend.

She showed up with gifts for her brother’s expected child: Onesies, bottles, slippers.

All featured the Titans logo.

“That way,” she said of her unborn niece or nephew, “they know — even though I’m far away — which team they should root for.”

EXTRAS

Read Q&A with Rouech as she talks Titans, Barry Sanders, and Ross and Rachel

See her Titans profile web page