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Red Dogs & Rodeo.....
Cheerleaders and Cowboys a Winning Combination
for BHSSF Calendar Fundraiser
Rapid City, SD -- Forget the pompoms.
This ain’t your Daddy’s idea of cheerleading.
This is smart, professional, and
market savvy.
This is the Black Hills Red Dogs
Football Cheerleaders.
Under the business name of Extreme Cheerleaders, the 20 member organization led
by Director and Head Coach Breawna Schwartz, trains with the Denver Bronco
Cheerleaders, competes nationally at such events as the IFL Pro Bowl and
holds the title for the best dance team in the National Indoor Football League (NIFL).
It’s an athletic department all its own. Think brawn .... with beauty.
For the non-profit Black Hills Stock Show Foundation, the mix was too good to
pass up. “Cowboys and cheerleaders,” ponders BHSSF President Joe
Norman, “are definitely a new take on things during Stock Show Week. You’re
not going to miss these young ladies and more importantly, you won’t miss an
opportunity to purchase a 2004 BHSSF Cowboy Calendar, which is part of our
fundraising programs this year.”
Watch for them in and around the
rodeo arena throughout the run of the Black Hills Stock Show & Rodeo where
they’ll have Cowboy Calendars in hand plus free, autographed posters of the
squad.
While looking forward to the start of the NIFL season in March with a full game
schedule at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center, Schwartz says there is life beyond
football for the team that performs dance and stunts in addition to cheerleading
routines.
“You’ll see us at various events
and one of the areas we really like to get involved in is working with
charitable causes,” she relates. “That’s why we’re so excited to
be a part of the Foundation’s Cowboy Calendar sales team. Proceeds go towards
funding youth scholarships and that’s something we can really get behind.”
Oh, yeah, then there’s that ‘cowboy thing’ too.
“We’re used to promoting the
football players and the Black Hills Red Dogs team but I’m sure we can get
used to the whole cowboy and western scene,” she says with a laugh.
General Manager of the football team Jennifer O’Neill thinks it’s a good fit
too.
“We’ve got an entire program to promote, games to schedule, a show to
put on, hopefully playoffs to make,” she says of her and others role in the
Red Dogs organization. “The Extreme Cheerleaders do a great job in those
areas for us. They’re attention-getter’s and at the same time are well
educated, smart and have a good sense of marketing.”
Preseason excitement and support is building according to O’Neill who says
that season tickets to Red Dogs games that run through June (later if they make
the playoffs) are selling well ahead of what has been posted in past years.
Mike Wysuph rejoining the team as head coach is a big plus she says, pointing to
their record of 13 and 1 when he served as the offensive coach three years ago.
Add the recent announcement of signing wide receiver Mario Patton, St. Louis,
Coy Sasse, a 6-0, 245 lb. defensive end from Black Hills State University,
Spearfish, SD, and Steve Gerszewski, a 6-1, 222 lb., fullback/receiver from
Mayville State University, and it’s shaping up to be a, “a really strong
season for us,” she says.
Game schedules and season tickets are available through the Black Hills Red Dogs
office located in the upper level of the Creamery Mall and by calling
605-343-3535.
“Put sports athletes together, whether cowboys, football players or
cheerleaders and it’s a formidable team effort in raising funds for young
students and their families,” observes Norman. “We’re counting on
that enthusiasm to put the 2004 BHSSF Cowboy
Calendars - a real collector’s item by the way with only 1,000 printed -
into the hands of people who can add it to their stock show shopping list,
helping a worthy cause at the same time.”
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