Pioneering Squad Leader
Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Founding Director Dee Brock Passes Away at Age 96
Anonymous
Dee Brock, founding director of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, died at 96 on Sept. 23, the team confirmed. She helped establish the squad in 1960, shaping its choreography and distinctive blue-and-white uniform, which later entered the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. In 1965, Brock integrated the squad, a significant step in a still-segregated Dallas. A teacher and scholar who earned a doctorate in English, she also helped found El Centro College in Dallas. Current director Kelli Finglass and others praised Brock’s vision and enduring influence on generations of cheerleaders.
Key Points
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Cowboys general manager Tex Schramm asked Brock to organize a game-day dance and cheer squad; her original group, called the “CowBelles & Beaux,” included both men and women in white button-down shirts.
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Director Greg Whiteley said Brock sketched the first cheerleader uniform on a legal notepad before designer Paula Van Wagoner and seamstress Leveta Crager turned the design into the finished look.
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Brock graduated from North Texas State College in 1950 and later earned both a master’s and a PhD in English there. She had once imagined moving to New York to become a professor, and ultimately taught during her career.
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