Sideline Legends In Their Own Words
For 6 decades, men and women have cheered for the National Football League. In this podcast, you will meet them, hear their stories, and find out what it's like to be a National Football Pro Cheerleader.
Sideline Legends In Their Own Words
A Legacy of Spirit: Shannon Hall Salter and Madeline Salter of the DCC
Imagine the pride and awe of standing on the same storied field where your mother once dazzled crowds, now wearing the iconic boots and star-spangled uniform yourself. This Mother’s Day, join me, Tammy, as we unwrap the touching narrative of Shannon Hall Salter and her daughter Madeline Salter, currently a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader. Together, we celebrate their bond and the extraordinary legacy of cheering for one of the most prestigious teams in the NFL.
Our conversation with Shannon and Madeline is nothing short of a journey through the heart of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders' experience. From the emotional moments that solidified Maddie's dream to the rigorous demands of each season, we shed light on the dedication behind the glamor. Shannon's reflections on her daughter's growth and the evolving responsibilities of being a veteran cheerleader add an intimate layer to the story that is sure to resonate with listeners.
Beyond the sparkle of pom poms and high kicks, there's a profound sisterhood and a connection that spans generations within the DCC. We explore this deeply woven community, the powerful memories that tie a mother and daughter to the field, and the legacy they continue to build. Concluding with the excitement of our Sideline Legends NFL Alumni website launch, this episode is an ode to the passion and tradition that make the cheerleading world so captivating. Join our community and be part of the celebration as we share untold stories from the sidelines.
Hi and welcome to another episode of Sideline Legends, in their own words. I'm Tami, your host, and you are in for a great time. This is May and it means Mother's Day. I've been blessed to interview two NFL mother-daughter cheerleaders. First up is Shannon Hall Salter and Madeline Salter. But wait, Madeline is a current Dallas Cowboys cheerleader. With special permission from the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Organization, I was able to get Maddie on the show. I know right, Shannon and Maddie share their road to the NFL, how Shannon's teammates were able to watch Madeline grow up and why Maddie wanted to be a DCC. Watching this mother and daughter side by side was priceless, and I know you're going to love them.
Tami Barber:Hi everybody, welcome to another episode of Sideline Legends and it being May, it is Mother Daughter month on our show today and I am so excited because we have a one of a kind here today. We have a current DCC. All of our other interviews are going to be with alumni, which I love too, but Maddie is my favorite. Am I allowed to say that? I love all the DCCs, but Maddie. When we met a couple of years ago, it was just like she was my little mini me, although she's like five feet taller than I am. I'm always saying I want to put Maddie in my pocket and bring her home. We just clicked. You know how you just have people
Tami Barber:And then I got to meet mom. Shannon is her mom and Shannon cheered under the name of Shannon Hall in her rookie year. That was 1987. And then she cheered also through 88 and 89. And Maddie's rookie year was 2021. And she is currently getting ready to try out again for the 24-25 season, which is nerve-wracking, but we're not going to go there. Let's not talk about auditions. Everybody will get gurgly tummies Now my question with all mother daughters is maddie, did you always want to be a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader?
Madeline Salter:Tami, thank you for having me. I'm so excited to do this, especially with you and mom. No, I didn't decide to become a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader because of mom. But growing up I started dancing at the age of six. Mom realized at that age that, oh, my daughter wants to entertain.
Madeline Salter:I did a lovely tap piece to a whole lot of shaking going on. It had fringe, it had feathers, it had a big pink bow on my back and she saw that I was also singing along to it. So little me trying to dance and also sing a song. She, she goes. Oh, this is what she's going to continue for the rest of her life, and so it wasn't till the summer of 2018. I went to go see Meet The Team for the first time. M om was invited and I was her plus one and I didn't know what to expect. I mean, I've seen, seen CMT before, but nothing could compare to what I experienced that day. We arrived to meet the team and, all of a sudden, the pregame began and as the cheerleaders started taking the field, I started to tear up. You did, and I was. I was thinking what?
Madeline Salter:Oh, my goodness, that's my dream, that my dream is in front of me, and this emotional reaction is real, is very real. And I remember looking to my mom when, uh, when it was over and I went. I want to try it out.
Shannon Salter:I had the biggest,
Tami Barber:first of all, so you didn't really grow up having mom say anything about you. Oh, I want you to be a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader. I was one. It was a wonderful experience.
Shannon Salter:I wo it for you, none of that um well, tammy, I was more strategic than that. I was like, hey, she likes. Well, thank you for having us on the podcast.
Shannon Salter:Much so I. When I saw that she liked the idea of Sorry alarm I enjoyed the aspect of entertaining and she kind of took pretty well to it. I was like, ok, we'll see. I introduced her to different aspects of the cowboy cheerleader. You know everybody assumed, oh, you put her in junior DCC and you put her out on the field. Oh right, that's the fun stuff, that's the easy stuff Right.
Shannon Salter:That's the fun stuff, that's the easy stuff I let her go to when our beloved Suzanne Mitchell, her memorial in Dallas. Maddie went to that. I wanted her women behind the scenes, women I had talked about, but this would have been one of the best ways for her to meet Shannon Wrthman, judy Trammell, some of the women that I cheered with, and not in a performance matter, you know it, I mean Susie. It was a day of remembrance but she got a history lesson that was going to be once in a lifetime I let her come to. We had an alumni sale at the old studio in Valley Ranch. She got to see the studio in that capacity because she saw alumni sale.
Shannon Salter:We jus I let her be exposed to aspects of DCC to kind of give her little samples of you know you could become part of this world. Not yet, obviously, you're. You know 12, 13. World, not yet, obviously, you're, you know 12, 13. Here's a little sample and let her kind of digest it and say you know, is this going to be for me?
Shannon Salter:And I knew this is before CMT really came around. I was like this is a world that you want to be a part of. I know you're going to be a part of, but it comes with a lot of dedication, a lot of blood, sweat and tears, and do you really want to put your kid into that? Are they going to be able to handle it? And I didn't want to put that pressure on her, but I want to apply enough, just so she could look back and go. This was so well worth it. It was so worth it. I like that. So well worth it. It was so worth it. Oh, I like that. I got to let her make her own decision, but I had set some things in motion so she could go. Oh yeah, mom, I met her back when I know you did. There were reasons for it.
Tami Barber:Well, all the alumni were kind of your aunts.
Shannon Salter:They are, oh, aunts they are Auntie, paula yeah, and Kim Kim and Sharpie yeah.
Tami Barber:And we've talked about this before on other episodes about the sisterhood that it's family. These aren't people that blew into our life and now it's over. These are people we were with 24 7, through hard weather conditions, things going on in our lives and they were always there.
Tami Barber:You, you were never going to fall. If you were with a DCC, you were never going to fall. If you were with a DCC, you were never going to be alone. You were never going to do anything that you couldn't handle because they were going to pick you up. And I think it's great that Maddie saw you had that and you. That's the part you shared. I mean everybody wants to share.
Tami Barber:Hey, we went to a Super Bowl, or look at me on the field. It takes a lot to get to that point and I don't think people understand how hard it is to get there. Yeah, I have like this vision that the fans picture the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders and all NFL cheerleaders waiting in the tunnel. They just come from fairy dust. All of a sudden they're just standing there Out on the field. We go and we put on this awesome performance and we work, work, work and then we leave the field and the fairy dust leaves and it's just liquor in the air until the next game. That's not even close. No, not even close. And that is when you think about it, that, yes, maybe the game is three hours. When you think about it that, yes, maybe the game is three hours. But you know that three hours is such a minute slice of the pie of what it takes to get there.
Shannon Salter:But what's so great is that you come away from your years of cheering with that and the background in the history Absolutely. And you know, most folks don't know what that journey is for each cheerleader. What was her journey to get to that point? You know, some are a little bit more obvious than others, but they're all interesting. It's all different paths of how you got there, why you became a cheerleader. And that's what I find fascinating, because you look back and you're going how many years did you cheer? Well, I cheered, I didn't make it, then I made it and then I was gone for a few years. I mean, you're like, why did I know that? And it's because everybody's path to DC is so different and so diverse and just fascinating.
Tami Barber:It is. And yet what happens when you get there is we all become just perfectly lined up and intertwined. It's like the universe puts the right people there, puts the right people there, and that's what everybody wants to say. Well, y'all don't really get along that well, and you did this and you did that, and we just have. One of the number one reasons for this podcast was no, it's not like that at all. I'm trying to figure out what, what, what, what are you even talking about that? We don't get along. I, I breathe with these girls. I right, this is my world. All of a sudden, like you said, you're in a family and you're in a world. So, maddie, you decided, did you decide in 2018 to try?
Madeline Salter:I did decide. Did you decide in 2018 to try out? I did. I decided in 2018, tried out 2019, all the way to 2021, made it and I can't believe I'm going for my fourth season already.
Tami Barber:No, I, I know I can't believe you are. I mean, I know, I know your mom can't. Your mom remembers the day you were born.
Shannon Salter:I mean like other legacy, you know, DCC moms, I'm not ready for the rollercoaster ride to end yet. Oh, you know it's a rollercoaster ride and you're kind of like I'm not ready for the ride to be over yet. But I let her decide that fourth year because I mean she knew I wanted her to try it again because I had three years and her going for her fourth year is something I don't know what that's going to be like. I didn't do four years and I was like you know, yeah, our years are somewhat parallel, but a fourth year is a, is a next is a more responsibility, a step up. They're going to want more from you hopefully.
Shannon Salter:So this fourth year it'll be new, I mean year four, but it's going to be her year. I can't say well, my third year, I got to do this and this and this. Let's see what happens. No, this is all new.
Tami Barber:No, it is all new. It's all new. I mean, even for us from the 70s, every year was so different, and I don't know about you two, but I'm going to ask you this question out of nowhere. I remember there were times towards the end of a season my first and second year that I thought I don't know if I can do this again, because you don't have a life aside from the Cowboy Cheerleaders. It's practice, it's appearances, it's all-consuming. I tell people I don't even know who was president while I was cheering, because there was no outside world for me, it was all cowboys. And you think, you know, I think this might be it, I think this might be it, and then, all of a sudden, it's the last game and you're walking off the field for the last time. Is that when you decide?
Madeline Salter:so I actually, for the longest time, my third year going oh I'm done, I'm done, I'm done, I'm ready to put my pom-poms away and go explore something else. And then, I believe it was when we finished. I think it was bank. No, not banquet, it was the last game. It was last game because, um, it was our playoff game so oh, green bay, yeah, yeah and I remember so. Unfortunately, my first year I got COVID so I couldn't go to the playoff game. I know I know.
Madeline Salter:So it was very sad. Thank you, 49ers. And then, of course, second year, we didn't get a playoff game because it was away. So when I had my very first playoff game, I was like, wait, wait, what do you mean? It's over? No, it can't be over that fast. I've auditioned three times. It cannot be over that. But I auditioned three times. It cannot be over this fast. And I thought to myself all that hard work, I I can do one more year.
Madeline Salter:I know I can do one more year because you remember, there were times where I was just well, you were doubting, you know what?
Shannon Salter:She was like what more do I have to give to the team mom? You know you have to be a team member, you, you won't be still contributing and you still have to feel like I, you know, I can still be a necessary asset to this team. And and I didn't. She was kind of like questioning that. And then it was kind of like maybe, maybe I do need to look at where I'm at and and and I'm not ready to have this. When I was finishing up my rookie year, I got to do some of the telethons like, and I was like oh, I want, I want more of this, I want you know. And then, going in, going into my second year, I got to do the tours and that's why I really did my tour here.
Shannon Salter:When you go on those USO tours, it's life-changing. Oh yeah, three and a half weeks of solid performance. Your body is in such great shape, the warm-up it's like, well, my body's kind of still warm from you know, pop your head a little bit, twist your back and you're ready to go. I wanted more of that, and I mean you're seeing parts of the world and you're entertaining and you're seeing the troops that give of their lives and you're kind of like going into third year. That's why I returned. I was like I want more of this we all have a special thing.
Tami Barber:I mean, obviously we love the games, obviously, but there's really a small part of everything that we do and you know we did children's hospitals and nursing homes that's my favorite yes, yes, and, and and, because that's where you get to look in their eyes and see them you know the game is just a mass of people that you, just you, stare up and smile and you might catch an eye. You might catch a person, but no, the tours, the special appearances, uh charity events.
Tami Barber:That's where you feel like you're really doing your cowboy cheerleader work beyond the field, beyond dallas.
Shannon Salter:I like that. Yeah, above and beyond, yeah, yeah, yes. And you got to remember, tamm, you have the Super Bowl years. I do. You look on the record and I told Maddie this how many times I go, baby, if you're not going to a Super Bowl, what are the other years that they look and make reference to, when they were really kind of the worst? And you look up 1989, they were 1-15, you know, oh yeah, and so it was like you know, we're not there just to hopefully go to the Super Bowl. We're there for so much more and the games are a big part of it. Winning or losing it didn't matter. You were just thankful to be part of that world and and you knew it was going to be such a short part of your life right, well, and you know, yes, the games.
Tami Barber:But you know, as maddie referred, we don't go to away games, that's true right so you know, all we have is what maybe well, I don't know what y'all had, but we had maybe seven home games. We have 10, you have 10, okay, and next year they may be adding more.
Madeline Salter:I hear that is what I've heard as well, I don't know.
Tami Barber:Yes, we, we will not divulge that yet I would want more, I know. But I mean, you think about like the 70s and us 80 girls. We were on the field maybe seven times, but yet our lives are full. We're always busy. It's almost like, ooh, there isn't a game coming up. Where are we going? What are we doing? Right, because we're a team. Exactly, we are there for the Cowboys, but we are a team with our own itinerary. And you look at the itinerary coming up and you're like, oh look, there's a game.
Madeline Salter:We've got a game this weekend. I need to go plan out my weekend. I go tan. I need to make sure yeah is my uniform clean. I have enough tights in case. You know. Unfortunately I snapped something right. Yeah, yeah, friday. You dedicate friday saturday for that day. But it's all worth it and it's great planning.
Tami Barber:You have to be such a planner.
Shannon Salter:And the tunnel moments, ugh, I just oh, and Tamm, her tunnel experience is different from yours and mine. You know we had Texas Stadium, the one big tunnel, one big tunnel.
Tami Barber:yes, there are tunnels everywhere. Oh and yeah. And then the side entrances from DraftKings.
Shannon Salter:Yeah, they're not one single line. They're clumped together in the visitor tunnel and and the other tunnel. I think you were in kelly's they actually say there's a elly tunnel and there's the judy tunnel oh fun.
Madeline Salter:So the reason why they say that when we have practice uh, for game day, so we get there you always have practice before the actual game, so we run through pre-game uh, pre-game, excuse me, pre-game and um, Kelly's always on the back of the field to watch the girls from that point of view and judy's always in the front. And so my favorite part of thunderstruck is when we turn around to the back and because Kelly's always right there and I'm just like having the best time and that's my chance, especially when I was a rookie I was in the back row, easy to find, easy to find. That's my favorite part, because that was my time to be front row. I was front line because that the whole audience on that side, that was my time to be front row. I was front line because that the whole audience on that side, that was my audience. I was like all right for this. What three second moment, I'm gonna give you a show. Of course you give this show the whole time, but no, I know what you're saying.
Tami Barber:You, you get it's a different perspective and and it's funny because when you talk about how we practice before the game, you know we're there like four days before the game. It seems like I practice, practice, but it's when it's empty. There's nobody there except the worker bees, and you do turn around, like for us we would turn around and it was either Suzanne or taxi, and you just feel like they're staring right at me. They're staring right at me, yep, right at me, and 35 other girls are thinking. She's staring right at me, she'll see it.
Shannon Salter:They'll see it, she'll see it, yep.
Tami Barber:Yep, but yes, the games are amazing, amazing. And I will be honest, Shannon, when you talked about when the team isn't doing as well, I remember because I did get two Super Bowls I remember thinking I don't know if I'd want to be a cheerleader if we didn't get to go to a Super Bowl.
Shannon Salter:Well, very true, yeah. But I also knew I was part of an elite group and, no matter how good or bad the Cowboys did, there were people that wanted to see us. You know, even for a CMT show, even before all the notoriety that's come over the years, they, you know, when the game wasn't doing very well, they were like, well, we, you know, we get to watch the cheerleaders, we're coming to see them. And so you're like, okay, you know a little different perspective, but you're like, hey, you signed up for this. Good or bad, winning or losing, you're there to cheer for the cowboys. So do it and do your best, whether we're athletes.
Tami Barber:Uh, you don't win every game, that's true I love that I love that okay, I would love, I'm gonna don't win any game
Madeline Salter:No, I mean, I'll get on a knife and see the Cowboys go. Yea
Tami Barber:And what's fun about being with the Cowboys is they have a notoriety as well. And when you're a rookie and you've only seen you know like for me it was Roger Staubach, you've only seen you know like for me it was oger starbuck and all of a sudden I'm on a field looking at you're not whoa, and there's tom landry with his hat.
Tami Barber:Oh, oh, oh yeah, and what you know? It wasn't even about me then, and uh, but and that so, so addie's trying out, oh and oh. And first I I forgot to say that shannon and maddie are in virginia right now. You're right yes yeah, they're traveling together to a family wedding for the weekend.
Tami Barber:How fun. And that's the other thing that I love about mother-daughters, because that's a tough relationship mother-daughters Mom wants the very, very best for you. Daughter thinks mom doesn't know anything. I love the look. And yet when you two are on the field together at a reunion, what, what is that? Like, maddie, you know your mom's on the field, your mom's dancing somewhere on the field, are you even? I mean, I know we're thinking about you, know you got to do your thing and hit your mark and and not make a mistake. Yeah, but you have to know that she's there on the field.
Madeline Salter:That is so true. So my first time doing the alumni halftime. Well, growing up there was never a chance to do like mother-daughter dancing. It was either father-daughter dancing like they do for high school and studios. So growing up mom would tell me a lot of great stories going with USO tours or practices. And I saw that on the field, especially during practice when we were in Highland Park and I saw her having fun with her girls and I was like, oh my gosh, I just saw my mom back when she was a cheerleader.
Madeline Salter:It was like I was seeing a flashback. I went. That's because it's crazy when people people ask me like is your favorite cheerleader your mom? I never met her, I never see her, I've never seen her dance.
Shannon Salter:Uniform.
Madeline Salter:Exactly, and so I remember looking over because mom mom was in the front. Good, job and you were closer to the 50.
Tami Barber:Good job nobody knows how important that is oh, yeah, you you, you work for it, go ahead.
Madeline Salter:I'm I'm very spoiled. I'm very thankful I don't move out of the 45 to 50. But I remember going oh my gosh, that's why she did it Because you have like biological sisters, but those were your sisters. You see them at practice, all day with practice. Some of them were at your wedding. Some of them held me when I was a baby.
Shannon Salter:Oh yeah, that's a great story.
Madeline Salter:And then also it's crazy just seeing like I've seen VHS tapes of you guys on tour vlogging for the first time. My favorite is still the.
Shannon Salter:Australia, yeah, is still the Australia. Yeah, because, Tami, you have to realize, Kelly, you know the director there. Now I view her as a former teammate. She's an alum I mean, Maddie sees her as that's my director, that's my boss, and so we keep it that perspective. Because it's, you know her, her relationship with Kelly is Kelly is different than mine, you know. I mean, she was an alumni, we cheered together and we did those tours together and you know, Maddie, it's her director and I like that. That's a different perspective, but same person.
Tami Barber:Right, right, I like that. We're all still there. Now tell me the story about DCC's holding Maddie as a baby.
Shannon Salter:Okay, so there's an assistant. That's part of the administration. Her name's Michelle Sharp, Sharpie. Yes, yes, oh, I love her. I cheered with sharpie, she can. I think she joined um. My second year was her rookie year. Fast forward to Michele's wedding. Okay, and I it had to have been. Manny was born in 89, so she had to have been married. It was, oh, sorry you were not pregnant with me. You're merging together.
Shannon Salter:It's 90, because I was invited to the wedding. But I didn't want Maddie to cry in a ceremony. I was like, oh my God, if she starts wailing during the ceremony it's going to, I'm going to lose it, right, I'll be walking out in the middle. And so I brought her to the reception and Maddie was all in her pretty cute little outfit and we don't have a photo, but Michelle held Maddie in her wedding dress. I mean, she looked Sharpie, looked stunning really that.
Shannon Salter:that neckline and and just she looked elegant, she. She held Maddie at her wedding reception. Oh my God, never knowing how many years later Maddie would be working so close with Sharpie and we. That happened with Shelley Bromhill, I mean Shelley Roper, all these women that were that are part of the administration saw Maddie as a, as a newborn, as a toddler. I mean they've seen her. You know, like I said, in those little bits of time when I let Maddie kind of be part of the DCC.
Madeline Salter:The wedding is another example I've met my best friend because of DCC. Oh yeah, that story too. That makes me cry, because when you find your best friend, you think like where have you been all my life? And it's because of DCC. Her name is Dylan, so her mom. I shared with mom what year was Paula's year.
Shannon Salter:Paula was 89.
Shannon Salter:And there was an alumni performance I think it was the breast cancer game, and we carpooled and I remember you did, paul and I threw, we put Dylan and Maddie in the back seat and we drove from Austin up to Dallas and, you know, and Paul and I were kind of grinning because they're very close in age and the only thing they have connected is their mother and daughter. I mean, their mothers were DCC together and Maddie and Dylan, they just clicked, you know, as we didn't even have to like, go be nice. You be nice to Dylan, okay, she's a nice girl, you go be nice. Didn't have to do that. You be nice to Dylan Okay, she's a nice girl, you go be nice. Didn't have to do that. They enjoyed the event they were going to. They didn't know what they were doing, they just knew moms. Our moms are, you know, former DCC and they had a great time and they started a friendship that's still lasting to this day, oh For 10 years Dylan's not A dancer she's not in the DCC, she's not a dancer.
Shannon Salter:She took a different path. She did cheerleading and they have stayed friends and Dylan keeps Maddie grounded. We love that. I love that it's a chance for those two to, whenever they get back together, to be in a world that's not DCC and they're friends because they want to be friends, not because we made them right, but but it is but the only reason they met is because of because of dcc oh yeah well, and it's funny because the term best friend is so well.
Tami Barber:First of all, bff is is totally overused. But you have, um, like everything else in your life, you have a place where some people live and you know they're going to be there, and then you have this group over here and, especially as you get older and older, you have more and more and more, but like somebody, like dylan and Maddie, they will always have that car, that road trip yes and as life goes on, those are the things that stick out with me, with my friends.
Tami Barber:Oh, do you, do you remember when we were seven and we did it? You know that that's what forms you and, uh, best friends can come in all shapes and sizes yeah, you know, um, I I want to kind of go back just for a second.
Shannon Salter:You were talking about when we were at the alumni rehearsal and how Maddie was. You know how we're on the field together? Oh, when we're at the high school. Yeah, yeah, one of the hardest things to do is stop being the dance mom and be the alumni. Any, any, any mom that's into their kid, whether it be band. You know cheerleading football, you know you're, you're there to cheer your kid on and you're like, oh my, you're all consuming. And you, you know, you want the best for the team, you want the best for your kid.
Shannon Salter:And when we do that alumni halftime, I realized first time I was like, okay, I cannot watch Maddie, I cannot be over there going oh my God, she looks so good and you know the alumni. And then it's all sending. You hear Judy's voice going ladies, ladies of the eighties, you're next and I'm like, oh my gosh, what yard light. Oh, wait, a minute. I had to stop being the dance mom and be the alumni and go. Okay, mental note, I have to not watch Madeline. I cannot, you know, watch everything she's doing. Stop being that dance mom, be the alumni. You signed up to do this. Now pay attention.
Tami Barber:I've never even thought about that because I didn't have any children, so I don't have to worry about somebody else, and and I but I mean think of the years you know that Maddie's been there. That is your focus.
Shannon Salter:Right and I never. If you said, okay, you're going to be an alumni and how many you know, 20 something years later, write this script. You're going to be on the field the same time. Your daughter is going to be on the field and you're mere 10 yards away, so don't watch her. You don't. You've got. How do you not? How do you not? It's 46 yard line. You're on the second row, right behind Sharpie, and there's Tina. And okay, now don't watch your daughter, because you have a job to do and it's fast, because it's the 80s Well but no, but it's, it's's.
Shannon Salter:you're waiting on the sideline because once the ladies of the 70s finished, we had to come out. You have to not watch your kid you have to turn that dance.
Tami Barber:I don't know how you do that, because you've done that since the day she was born. That's where your heart, your eyes, your focus goes on that child, yeah. But then you sit there and then you have to put it all back and and try and do and, and, as much as we love, love, our half times they're nerve-wracking. Yeah, they're fast and I I'm so nervous and I don't want to make a mistake, and especially now, what have we got? 80,000 people that have a camera in their hands.
Shannon Salter:Mm-hmm, I mean that's big, Over 93,000. Yes, by the time halftime everybody's there. People are in their seat and sitting down like a pregame and you're like, wow, okay, this is a lot.
Tami Barber:This is a lot yeah.
Shannon Salter:When we did the alumni, we ran the flag out and Maddie was signing..
Tami Barber:Yes, oh, that's right.
Shannon Salter:I was part of rolling the flag out and I was like, oh my gosh, here again had a job to do and although she's right behind the the, she's on the other side of the flag and she's signing the national anthem and I'm holding it. I'm trying not to lose it, which is kind of hard. I've got tears, I know, but it was like you couldn't have written that script. You couldn't. Hey, how do you know that you're going to be on the field holding the flag during the national anthem, your daughter's signing it? You know, for american sign language, write that script out.
Tami Barber:See how that's gonna, you know right and I want to, I want to make sure everybody heard Madeline signs, the national anthem, every home game. He's standing there in her Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders uniform and she is so beautiful and so low, just fluid, just a beautiful. Yeah, I and, and I have a couple of deaf friends. So when I found out that Maddie was doing this and that this was part of her job, it just hit me in a special place in my heart, because I have friends that are deaf and you don't know how important that is to them and it's a gift, it is, and they I mean they- they know what's going, what's being, but going on at that part of the pre-game.
Shannon Salter:But they're being representative, you know they're being acknowledged. Hey, this is what's going on. We don't have somebody singing, we have a trumpeteer, freddie jones company, by madeline salter, and it's all yes, and and it's representative, represented, and of course you know a dcc's doing it and that was the best part.
Tami Barber:that's the best part, it's not. It's like oh, who's in the national anthem? It's always somebody new. It's always this, it's always that. No, this is what the Dallas Cowboys present to you. One of our own is including you, and that's see. I get goosebumps just thinking about that.
Shannon Salter:Oh, I know, Every time when I hear a name, you'll hear I'm standing up videotaping it's like this with your iPad.
Tami Barber:Pay attention, I know, Shannon, I would think that would be very difficult. You have to remember your routine, your yard line, who you're next to. Watch to your right, watch to your left and front and back. Remember this and my daughter's over there. That would be so much. That's too much for my brain but.
Shannon Salter:but I mean we're, we're. I mean for the first time where I'm like maddie, we're going to rehearsal together. Your rehearsal is a lot harder than mine, but you know, when we're doing that Saturday rehearsal in Highland Park, we drive together and I'm like I'm going to rehearsal, I'm going to practice with her, I've got my partners, the girl she's practicing with, I'm having mine. Even just the rehearsal aspect of it was a blast.
Tami Barber:It is, I uh, the highlights of the reunion weekend. one of them is rehearsal day. I mean, obviously we're a little more casual and out of control, and a lot of screaming and seeing each other, um, and, and, poor Judy and Kelly, it's like rein us in how, how, and and then you've got Brooke, who's in charge of all the uh, the, the grown-ups that don't want to pay attention because it's just, it's so much and it goes so. And then all of a sudden we're leaving again and can't wait Next year?
Shannon Salter:Did we perform good enough that Kelly and Judy want to go through that all over again? You know, because we keep getting more alumni keep showing up. Right, we have a bigger showing showing. Bigger and better showing.
Tami Barber:Yes, corralling feral cats has to be an anxiety weekend for all involved that's funny.
Shannon Salter:Yeah, keep it, look, keep.
Tami Barber:Oh, my gosh, that is wonderful well, I have enjoyed this so very much. Is there anything else you want to share or you thought of that you want to go back to, because I love this? I mean, I just mother-daughter things to me are very special.
Madeline Salter:I do I do Okay, it was the first time I remember anything DCC in my life. It was when Texas Stadium was coming down. Oh, I know, I know, I didn't mean to break both of you guys' hearts.
Shannon Salter:I told you I took her to things that weren't always, you know, glitz and glamour. This was another.
Madeline Salter:I didn't mean to break both of you guys' hearts but I mean I was eight and I remember all right, we have to get up early. We got to get to Irving because we lived at Carrollton at the time and it was just a fun tailgate party in the beginning, just enjoying everyone's company, and I think I got to meet more and more alumni just enjoying everyone's company and I think I got to meet more and more alumni. And then Sunrise came around and I remember holding your pink. You were busy, you were with your alumni sisters, but I remember I held your pink Razor phone and I was recording it and I remember looking over and you guys were in tears and I like it was horrible why is mom crying.
Madeline Salter:Why is mom crying? And as I got older I went oh my gosh, that was our second home, that was your guys home. And I can't imagine, especially with my two best friend rookie sisters, katie and Kelly, when we get older and if it's you know, on to a new stadium and goodbye to AT&T it's gonna, it's gonna feel the same.
Madeline Salter:It's gonna feel the same, yeah, yeah, of course, with other um, like getting my ring for the first time or taking the field for this first time. We share similar um feelings. But that moment of uh, vulnerability when I saw at a very young age, I went look at them, holding onto each other. Yeah, look at them. And that's why I lean so much on not only my rookie sisters, but my leader, both of my leaders this year, claire and Danny.
Madeline Salter:So what we do for coming up on a game week, we would film at practice and then we would send them to each other and be like all right, what do we need to work on? I would screenshot something I need to work on and I would send it to Claire. And it's always when my hair is going crazy Because at least you're watching and I'm proud. The reason why I say this? Because I remember we were talking about the little moments that not everyone sees. It takes. Everyone think oh, pixie, does they just show up and then they disappear and they'll be here next week. It's those little moments.
Tami Barber:And they are. That's what. That's what you take away from it. And I love that Maddie doesn't have to go turn in a uniform and walk away and have it all go away. She's got another yes, hopefully a uniform and walk away and have it all go away. She's got another yes, hopefully, place to go. That's what I love, and love about brooke, because she said that was brooke's. Uh, quote from brooke was does doesn't everybody feel this way, how I was such a part of this large thing and did all this stuff and now I'm just gonna walk away we don't have to walk away anymore right
Shannon Salter:absolutely and well, and I think, when you know, closing comments, I think what I guess I would want to kind of convey is, um, the mother-daughter relationship. You know, um, yes, Maddie and I have this beautiful thing between us, but, um, I, I never realized. I mean, I come, I have three older sisters and our mom, of course, I never thought I was going to have this kind of a relationship with my daughter. Yes, it's people just well, because she's a legacy, you know, oh, it's, it's a wonderful mother daughter. Um, I truly love like talking to her. I mean she calls me, I mean, what, how you see our relationship when people see it on the field or or, you know, outside the DCC world. I mean we truly have. She talks to me every day. You know, I'll be shopping and I'm trying and I see this cute outfit, and I've gotten to the point now where I'm like, don't you?
Shannon Salter:like this Because that sets her up and it sets me up for rejection. Well, what if you know she's going to say she likes it, just because mom wants to buy it for her?
Madeline Salter:I'll text her thoughts, and sometimes it's an outfit that she's like oh no, thank you, I'm like no ma'am.
Shannon Salter:No, thank you. Thank you, and I don't take offense. It's a way of shopping without her being there and sometimes I hit the mark and she's like, oh, mom, I love it. We. It's an understanding between a mother and daughter where I'm not taking things constantly personally, you know, or she has, you know. You know why, doesn't she? I'm her mom. She should like everything I suggest and you know, mother knows better and best, I know, but I mean so it's I just. I like our relationship because what you see is what it is. I like our relationship because what you see is what it is. It's not like we put on something fake just because she's a legacy and I used to be a cheerleader. What you see is what our relationship is?
Tami Barber:Oh, definitely, definitely.
Shannon Salter:I see that in you too.
Tami Barber:It's not all like I think one of my favorite things was getting to know both of you over the past couple years is I don't see, when I talk to just Shannon, I see Shannon. Then Maddie comes into the picture. I still see Shannon. Shannon doesn't become somebody else because Maddie's standing there now. And when Maddie and I are just talking and we're being goofy and I have a picture with you, with your hood on, sitting right next to me, yes, but your mom walks up and we're still goofy, there's no performance when it's just us. I don't see that. You see it in some people where, oh, my mom's here or, okay, my daughter's here, I'm going to act this way. No, what you see is what you get, no matter what. just because we're on the field for five minutes once a year and I'm, and and our brains aren't really on the field, um, or there's cameras in front of us and somebody's doing an interview.
Shannon Salter:Um, oh yeah, you know, there we're not just putting on show because I know I think the public could, they could recognize, they could read through it and go. Well, that that doesn't seem, that doesn't sound right, you know exactly.
Tami Barber:No, we are, and I just I want to let all of you know that this has been a very special treat for me, because I I'm getting to know the mothers and the daughters in a different light, but since I know both of these ladies, I see you, I see the girls that I love and I see whenever we're together and I just want to thank you both, and I just want to thank you both um, first of all, everybody when this comes out. Send that positive energy to.
Tami Barber:Maddie for her fourth year tryout because it is not guaranteed there are many women who will tell you they went back to try out for their second, third, fourth year of NFL cheerleading and that they were sent home. Um, of course that's not gonna happen to our Maddie, but for us, then we never send the love send the love. Send the love to Maddie, because she's got some, some real tough competition, and that's what I love is that anybody who comes back knows that and doesn't assume that you're already back. And happy Mother's Day, Shannon.
Tami Barber:Thank you, you girls have a wonderful weekend on the East Coast.
Madeline Salter:And Tami from the current DCC, Happy Mother's Day.
Tami Barber:Thank you. I know you're all my daughters.
Madeline Salter:I was like, I mean if I know the story about the pig tails, but I'm like that's my thing If I could have met you in uniform.
Shannon Salter:oh, my gosh I would have just melted.
Madeline Salter:I mean, I would have loved to too, but I'm like mean damn.
Shannon Salter:Yeah, I mean, those ponytails are an icon and that's what when we talk about. You know, alumni is is like her mom's. That's how she views you guys. You know that. And so on a Monday, it's very just because you don't have a daughter. This is like having a daughter and she'll.
Tami Barber:I love and and it usually happens on Saturday at that rehearsal, current girls come up. I tried out because of you.
Tami Barber:I tried out because of the 70s girls. I tried. You know we are the smallest group, obviously, and it's just. You guys have no idea. I mean, even the 80s and the 90s will come up and tell us that they tried out because of us and it means the world to us. It means we did our job, we created something other people want to become. Of course my camera is doing that, because my cat is rubbing her face on the corner of my car I was wondering what that was.
Tami Barber:And and I know 90s girls will say to the 80s girls I tried out because of you. That is so amazing to hear. I don't think. I think people take things like that for granted, but we don't.
Shannon Salter:Or maybe think that the different decades don't express that, they don't go and say, hey, you know what? You may not know it, but you made a difference in my road to DCC. Yeah, we don't always put work thoughts to words and go. I saw Tami in those ponytails and I thought through it and I saw myself in that uniform, and or I got to speak to that alumni for a few minutes and it motivated me to try out again. And this time I don't think people realize that those stories are shared and they turn out to be incredibly positive for that girl that keeps trying and does make the team.
Tami Barber:Yeah, so, anyways. So, and happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there.
Madeline Salter:Thank you.
Tami Barber:Maddie. Thank you, Shannon. Have a wonderful weekend and we'll be right back. I want to thank Shannon and Madeline for taking time to visit with me while they were on their weekend away. Didn't you just love the story about Michelle Sharp holding Madeline at her wedding so cute. Seeing through their eyes made it very special to know that the legacy lives on. And don't forget, send that extra love as Madeline tries out for next year's squad. There are more cheerleaders from around the US, more stories and more secrets if you tune in to Sideline Legends in their own words Subscribe, share and reach out if you have any questions. You can also join the Facebook group and if I can get my poop in a group yeah, that's a saying. I'm launching the website this week. It's going to be full of photos, videos, stories and more from our NFL alumni. Check out the Facebook group for that announcement. Talk to you soon. You're my people.