By Wendy Nugent, Harvey County Now
NEWTON – Michael Wingo’s goal is to get all 844 autographs of current and former Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, and he’s well on his way.
He currently has 247 of such items as 8×10 black and white cameo photos, a jacket, a baseball cap, at least one color photo, and several books. The jacket and hat are soaked in autographs and could probably use more wear.
Wingo said he probably has one of the largest collections of Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders (DCC).
“I have a lot of things that most people wouldn’t believe,” he said.
He says he has over 10,000 items, many of which are trading cards and calendars.
The blue cheerleader jacket is probably the most valuable item she has.
“It’s worth what someone will pay for it on any given day,” he said of its value, though he said he’d like $5,000 to get his hands on it.
That’s because the jacket was used by the four girls on the team for eight years, and Wingo can authenticate most of the signatures. It’s an old-style jacket that he picked out of a box of used DCC rookie and veteran jackets that was in a pile with bubble gum, zip ties, and hairspray. Wingo found them at an event and the lady selling them told him they were used and $65 each. He bought one. Now she regrets not buying all the jackets.
It has 93 unique DCC signatures.
Along with Wingo’s DCC collection and DCC interests, he decided to start a cheerleader forum. It’s called “Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders – Then, Now and Forever,” which is on Facebook.
“I wanted to create a forum that didn’t just focus on the 16 years the girls were in the show,” Wingo said of “Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team,” which ran from roughly 2005-2021. . “It was a hugely popular TV series.”
Wingo wanted to do something different since most of the forums just focused on the period of the show and the cheerleaders on that show. DCC dates back to 1961, Wingo said. He wanted to welcome all DCCs.
“I hope to get all their autographs someday,” Wingo said. “The only way to achieve this is to create a forum where they can all chat with their cheering peers and friends.”
He invited some cheerleaders to the forum and they invited other DCCs and snowballs.
In seven months, the forum grew from just Wingo to 4,938 as of Monday afternoon. In the first few months, Wingo said, he basically just talked to himself, where he posted things from his collection and wrote about his experiences.
“Every time a new cheerleader joins the group, I welcome them,” Wingo said, adding that it includes photos and an introduction.
Some of the cheerleaders are ones Wingo met over the years.
“I’ve met 2(00) or 300 people in person,” Wingo said, adding that when she attends shows with alumni cheerleaders, she sits with former DCCs.
Wingo’s interest in DCC began in the 1970s. He said that in the late 70s, one of the most popular things in the country was DCC.
“They were and are the most recognized uniforms in the world,” he said.
At that time, one of the cheerleaders, Gwenda Swearingen, winked at the TV camera. At that point, people began to think of them as women, not girls.
“It was the Super Bowl and people were just going crazy,” Wingo said.
Their images were put on many items such as playing cards, frisbees and everything.
“The Dallas Cheerleaders poster sold more than the Farrah Fawcett poster,” he said.
When Wingo was 14 or 15, he walked into Anderson’s Bookstore in Newton and noticed they had a book called “A Touch of Class.” She ended up buying two because the cheerleader photos were printed against each other and she wanted to hang their photos on her wall. His favorite at the time was Tami Barber, who was blonde and with pigtails. Now he has pancreatic cancer.
“Tami is on my forum and I found out she’s battling cancer,” Wingo said. “I decided to do a fundraiser to help cover his medical expenses.”
Barber didn’t want to do a Go Fund Me, so they’re doing a forum fundraiser.
“I had to talk him out of it,” Wingo said. “He didn’t want to do it. He said, ‘God sent me an angel.’ I said, ‘You don’t know me very well, Tami, but that’s okay.’
“I still remember him as a teenager and it’s one of my fondest memories,” Wingo said. “That bill has arrived. You rarely get to meet your teenage idols, let alone help them. Tami didn’t send me the bill, but fate did.
They haven’t met in person, but Wingo has an autographed photo of him.
The fundraiser started about a week ago and has raised $600 so far.
The other DCC cheerleaders watch as Wingo helps Barber, Wingo said.
“Think of it as a large corporation,” Wingo said. “They all keep in touch. Tami is like a legend to these girls.
Barber is one of the OGs of DCC when they were big in the 1970s.
Doing the fundraiser has given her credibility with the other cheerleaders, and they sign things for her after she sends them things.
“I do quite a bit of it by mail,” Wingo said, adding that it’s not an easy group to get into. You have to know people. “When I created my forum, I had advantages that other people don’t have.”
It included ties to a man who owns the largest cheerleading website, pompedia.com, Steve Snider, and a woman named Misty Schmitz, who has an Instagram account called 123DCCGallery. Because Schmitz is busy with both sites, he doesn’t post as much, but can offer his page as a sister site, Wingo said.
“If we do the fundraising, we’ll get all three sites,” Wingo said.
Wingo likes to participate in this community and collect things.
“In the ’90s, I was really fascinated by meeting girls in person and how you could get behind the curtain,” he said.
This was before the internet, before Facebook and before lightning-fast communications. He needed to communicate with them via snail mail, which was slow. It could take a month to get an answer when he got one.
“That’s what originally attracted me,” he said. “Now I enjoy the friends I’ve made. It’s like friends these days.”
He talks to the cheerleaders on Instant Messenger. One of his great friends is a woman who went by the name of Sydney Durso.
“He’s my favorite,” Wingo said.
Although he cheered for the Cowboys, his favorite team is the Kansas City Chiefs, Wingo said. It may have something to do with the fact that she is best friends with Gracie Hunt, who is the daughter of the Chiefs owners. She is also a cheerleader in “Billy Fischer’s Long Halftime Walk.”
Wingo said he wanted to keep his fanboy alive when he started all this, so he’s doing it with Durso. He even has a notebook with dozens of his photos.
“He’s pretty good at signing contracts for me,” Wingo said. “This last time I sent him 40 things.”
DCC items aren’t the only things Wingo collects.
“My house is somewhat of a battlefield between dinosaurs, cheerleaders and cats,” said Wingo, who has two cats and is known for her knowledge of dinosaurs.
He also has over 1 million sports cards and over 10,000 comic books.
Did the deaf girl make DCC?
Did Amy ever do DCC? Season 10. See the article : Big Red Rage – In The Trenches With Billy Price. [Reviews Shown] I tried DCC last year and I didn’t make it to the finals. I built cars.
Was there a deaf cowboy cheerleader in Dallas? In 2007 we had a rookie cheerleader named Christina Murphy. Great dancer, beautiful girl. And a unique, inspiring story. Christina is deaf.
Who was a DCC for the longest?
VonCeil and Vanessa hold the record for longest DCC, 8 years each. Read also : Man City manager Pep Guardiola’s reaction to Erling Haaland’s hat-trick is incredible. Vanessa fondly recounts a special memory of receiving her master’s degree on the Cowboys field in a 1977 game against the Broncos.
Who was DCC’s oldest cheerleader?
How long was Melissa Rycroft DCC? She danced in the team from 2006 to 2008. As a cheerleader, she appeared regularly on Country Music Television’s reality show Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team.
Who was the longest serving Dallas Cowboy cheerleader? Vonciel Baker still holds the team record for most years. The stories in this article are featured in an episode of our America’s Girls podcast.
How many years was Maddie a DCC?
I just finished my 5th season as a cheerleader for the Dallas Cowboys where I was lucky enough to be a leader for 3 years. Read also : Bair Mail: About Richie Grant, Bryan Edwards and Cordarrelle Patterson, Emmanuel Sanders and playing preseason starters. I am grateful to have grown so much through the opportunities given to me in the organization.
What DCC season is Maddie? Season 10. [Joint story with Elizabeth] She grew up training at her mother’s dance studio and never left. He was a studio rat and “eats, sleeps, drinks, dances.” He is roommates with Elizabeth and they live with a family friend.
Why didn’t Maddie go back to DCC? The only reason Madi didn’t go back was because she knew Clarke didn’t want her growing up with someone her age.
