Male Chiefs Cheerleaders Hold History in the First Super Bowl

The energy was indescribable; your own heartbeat couldn’t keep up with the palpable energy surging through the stadium. To be in Los Angeles inside the Coliseum as the Kansas City Chiefs represented the AFL in the very first Super Bowl is history in itself. To be on the field on national television was unforgettable.

My father, Larry Euston proudly holding up a
photo of the 1966-67 Chiefs Cheerleaders

My father, Larry Euston, was there on the field taking in the sights and sounds as the World Championship began- as a cheerleader.

I can remember telling classmates when the ever-so-common topic of the Chiefs came up about my father’s role in sports history. Wide-eyed and proud, I would say, “My dad was a cheerleader in the first Super Bowl!” Oftentimes, I was met with questioning eyes and confused stares.

“There were male cheerleaders?” would often be the response.

Without batting an eye and with my head held high, I would respond, “Yes. Yes, there were.”

Years have gone by since these schoolyard conversations, but the confusion still remains in the pages of history. Last year as the 53rd  Super Bowl was set to air on national television, networks reported two male cheerleaders, a part of the Los Angeles Rams squad, were the first male cheerleaders to appear in the Super Bowl.

This hit home for me personally. I’m so proud of my dad’s role in Chiefs history- and within the history of the NFL- that I couldn’t stand on the sidelines like he once did without yelling, as loud as I can, that this is not the truth. The very first Super Bowl had male cheerleaders.

Municipal Stadium was the home of the Kansas City Chiefs from 1960-1971. Image courtesy Randy Neil.

The story of cheerleaders within the Kansas City Chiefs organization is extensive and even extends past my father. Without the vision of one male cheerleader from KU who heard football was coming to Kansas City, my father may have never had the chance to cheer at the Super Bowl- just over 53 years ago.

Talk about a history that is never told….

Dallas Texans logo from 1960.
Image courtesy Texas State Historical Association

I had to pause for a moment and look up the history of Chiefs Cheerleaders on my own. If you drop a Google on it, the ever-so-reliable Wikipedia (kidding) states they were formed in 1971. The website connected to the official Chiefs that used to have some basic history on the cheerleaders is now gone.

Why is it so hard to find out the truth? Shouldn’t the Chiefs organization be proud of their place in history- and bank on it?!

Regardless, I am here to set the record straight once and for all.

It may come to a surprise to some that the beginnings of cheerleading both as a sport and in Kansas City rest in the hands of men. Cheerleading first appeared with the creation of an all-male pep club at Princeton in the 1880s. Princeton graduate Thomas Peebles took the idea of leading chants with him to the University of Minnesota where, in 1898, a man named Johnny Campbell rallied a group of students to energize the crowd. These organized cheers were the first cheerleading in the country.

A sticker from 1964 shows the original Chiefs logo.
Image courtesy Randy Neil.

Football in America was becoming vastly popular, and the founding of the National Football League (NFL) in 1920 brought the sport into the professional arena and grew to ten teams in four states. Forty years later in 1960, an innovative businessman named Lamar Hunt founded the American Football League (AFL) and started his own team, the Dallas Texans.

The logo for the Dallas Texans was a cowboy running, complete with a cowboy hat, boots with spurs and a gun drawn into the air. When the organization moved north to Kansas City, the logo- and their name- had to be revamped.

In 1963, Lamar Hunt chose to move his professional team to Kansas City where they were renamed the Chiefs. H. Roe Bartle (1901-1974), Kansas City’s two-term mayor at the time, had his hands in getting the Chiefs to Kansas City. Nicknamed “the Chief,” Bartle was the inspiration for the new team name of the Kansas City Chiefs. The logo was originally based off the gunslinger Dallas Texans symbol but was redesigned to feature a Native American running with a tomahawk in one hand and a football in the other.

Randy Neil holding up his official Chiefs
Cheerleader photo.

If people are up in arms about our Chiefs name today, imagine how they would react if we still had that logo on uniforms.

The logo was definitely not politically correct today, but it was a sign of the times. This logo was used until 1971 when it was replaced with the simple “KC” inside an arrowhead.

21-year-old Randy Neil, an alternate cheerleader and member of the pep club at KU, bounced around the idea of bringing his collegiate spirit to the sidelines at Municipal Stadium when it was announced the Kansas City Chiefs would be the city’s professional football team.

Randy recalled, “I just kept thinking in my head- I’m going to do this. I sat down at our kitchen table and typed a letter to Lamar Hunt in Dallas and gave him my background. I asked him, ‘Do you want a fully-formed cheerleading squad when you get here?’”

Just a short time later, Randy received a hand-written note back from Lamar Hunt that simply read, “Dear Randy – Go to it.”

Drawing of one of the girls' Chiefs uniforms. More images
of uniform designs can be seen at the end of the blog.
Image courtesy Randy Neil

Thus, the first cheerleaders in the entire AFL were born right here in Kansas City.

Randy wasted no time. He met with Lamar Hunt, came up with a game plan, and went out and hand-picked the first squad. Within a short time, he had a group of boys and girls- a total of about 18- ready to go before the Chiefs played their first game.

The budget was always a problem. The Chiefs agreed to come up with a mere $400 per year for miscellaneous expenses. The first official practice was held in the front yard of Randy’s parents’ home in Prairie Village. “We designed our own uniforms and paid for them ourselves. It was easy for boys, because we wore red blazers,” Randy explained. “The girls’ moms made their uniforms.”

Payment for their services came in the form of two tickets to home games which remained the standard for several years. The cheerleaders, led by Randy Neil, knew that promotional work was part of the package. In uniform, the squad made appearances at different events across the city to drum up sales for season tickets.

Ward Parkway Shopping Center was brand new and was looking for promotions to run. Randy sat down with the developers, the Kroh Brothers to try to sell sponsorship of their squad. It worked. “They decided to have a pep rally in their south parking lot. H. Roe Bartle appeared, there were marching bands, the entire team, and- of course- the cheerleaders,” Randy said with a smile. Around 3,000 to 4,000 people showed up.

The 1964 Chiefs Cheerleaders inside Ward Parkway Center.  Mike Nauman is on the top left; Randy Neil is on the bottom right. Image courtesy Randy Neil.

What Randy had assembled in Kansas City was getting attention from leagues around the country. His format for the Chiefs Cheerleaders, as can be seen in his carefully crafted scrapbook of memories, features several letters from teams such as the New York Jets asking for advice on how to assemble their own squads.

A promotional magazine printed by the KC Chamber of
Commerce showcases four of the cheerleaders in 1964.
Image courtesy of Randy Neil

AFL Commissioner Joe Foss also noticed. In 1965, nine members (four girls and five boys) of the Chiefs Cheerleaders were led by Randy to the All-Star Game in Houston. Representing the west, they wore red, white and blue uniforms.  

Most of the men on the cheerleading squad for the Chiefs came from Rockhurst High School and College. One of them, Mike Nauman, recalls trying out for the Cheerleaders after their first season (1964). An advertisement in the Kansas City Star read, “No previous cheerleading experience required.” They did ask that girls and boys be seniors in high school or in college.

“I remember a ton of girls tried out, and there were only a handful of guys from Rockhurst there,” Mike recalled.

Randy needed boys on his squad, and Mike and his friends from Rockhurst were just what he was looking for. “Hanging out with good-looking cheerleaders from across Kansas City wasn’t offensive either, so we just signed on,” Mike laughed.

Chiefs Cheerleaders also broke the racial barriers that were prominent in the early 1960s when Gwen Simmons, a Central High School student, joined the squad in 1964. She later cheered at Lincoln University in Jefferson City.

The 1964 Chiefs Cheerleaders. Mike Nauman is in the glasses kneeling in front; Gwen Simmons is on his lap.
Captain Randy Neil is kneeling on the right. Image courtesy Randy Neil

After the 1965 season, Randy decided it was time to move on. “I felt I had gone as far as I could with the support we had at the time,” Randy commented. Even though Randy left as head cheerleader, his relationship with the sport would last for years to come. He started what would be known as the International Cheerleading Foundation, holding clinics across the country. In 1979, he wrote The Official Cheerleaders Handbook. His book reached the New York Times bestsellers list and it is still in print today.

Mike Nauman holding up his original Chiefs sweater.

 From 1978 to 1981, he executive produced the National Collegiate Cheerleading Championships on CBS. He also returned as executive director of the Chiefs Cheerleaders in the 1980s.

As Randy exited the stage, my father, Larry Euston, received an invitation he couldn’t refuse. Mike Nauman was still cheerleading for the Chiefs and was also on the squad with my father at Rockhurst College. When a spot for a male cheerleader came up, my dad’s name was passed along by his friend, Mike.

It was as simple as that.

Starting in 1966, my father became one of the six men on the Chiefs cheerleaders that partnered up with the girls to do lifts and some acrobatic moves. The boys would hold up large “Go!” signs and large megaphones to get the crowd at the stadium hyped. Being on the field at Municipal Stadium was always a special moment for my father. “It was quite the feeling. You felt like a celebrity looking up and seeing everyone cheering as we got to watch the game from the field,” my dad recalled.

Bandleader Tony DiPardo would lead his 14-piece Zing Band and cue cheerleaders with his music. The squad included "very talented," according to my father, children that did stunts on the field. The uniform my dad sported was a white sweater with a red “C” in the center, a red dickey, and white jeans.

The 1966-67 Chiefs Cheerleaders. My father is holding 
the second girl up on the left.

Classy! I had to laugh when Randy said that he would never have allowed (gasp!) white jeans when he was head cheerleader. “We wore white slacks,” Randy emphatically told me.

Just as with most organizations, times definitely moved quickly- and every uniform seems to be short-lived in the pages of history.

A win on the road against the Buffalo Bills in the AFL Championship gave Kansas City an invitation to play the Green Bay Packers in Los Angeles on January 15, 1967. At the time, the NFL was a separate organization that many considered far superior to the AFL. In order to test this theory, the AFL and NFL agreed to play a World Championship Game called the Super Bowl.

Headline from the Kansas City Star Jan. 2, 1967 showcases the Chiefs win of the AFL Championship and their trip to the
first Super Bowl

Vince Lombardi, Green Bay’s coach and the namesake for today’s Super Bowl trophy, said that even the best team in the AFL “doesn’t compare to the top NFL teams.”

My father at Ward Parkway Center lifting
a girl trying out for the cheerleaders in 1967

Nevertheless, Chiefs Kingdom was on cloud nine when their young team was on their way to the championship. Around 12,000 screaming fans, led by the cheerleaders, stormed the airport to welcome the team home. Traffic on the Broadway Bridge was backed up as people honked their horns, rolled down their windows, and screamed “Charge! Charge!”  There was no room on the runway to even put down the stair ramp, so the team had to exit through the rear baggage door.

The Chiefs Cheerleaders assumed they would be going to the first Super Bowl with their team. “The word we got was that the Chiefs organization wasn’t allowed to pay for their own fanfare,” my dad explained.

That meant the Chiefs organization claimed they weren’t able to pay to have the cheerleaders go to the first Super Bowl in Los Angeles.

My father wasn’t about to take no for an answer. Just shy of 21 years old, my dad had been working at Milgram’s and knew that owner Lester Milgram (1917-1976) was a Red Coater and huge supporter of the Chiefs. “I went down to the Milgram office to talk to Mr. Lester to see if he could do something to help the cheerleaders get to the Super Bowl, but he wasn’t there,” my dad recalled.

Cushions commemorating the first Super Bowl
were given on the flight to Los Angeles

Mr. Lester’s personal secretary, Miss Francis was there to listen. My father explained the problem. “I just told her we found out we couldn’t go to the Super Bowl and I was hoping to talk to Mr. Lester.”

Did Miss Francis deliver the message? A short time later, my father and the rest of his squad found out that someone had arranged for them to take a charter flight so they could be there on the field cheering at the first Super Bowl. “I have no idea if I was 10 percent or 100 percent of the reason of why we got to go,” my father chuckled.

My father and the rest of the Chiefs Cheerleaders boarded a TWA chartered flight that was something to remember. They handed out bright red seat cushions stuffed with plaid blankets with white lettering that reads, in part, “First Super Bowl Game.” My father recalled, “We were served steaks branded with the Chiefs logo. It was the coolest thing I had ever seen.”

The cushion today is one of the pieces of memorabilia my father has from his days as a Chiefs Cheerleader.

New York Times headline from 1968

The hype of the big game wasn’t anything like we see today. The game itself was an experiment between two separate organizations not set on merging into one.

The nation could watch the Super Bowl on television on two different networks. NBC had the rights to the AFL games and CBS had the rights to the NFL games. Each network reportedly paid one million dollars to air the first Super Bowl.

The game was blacked out in Los Angeles to encourage people to attend, but the prices of tickets had many people upset. The cost was $12- just under $100 in today’s money. Just shy of 62,000 people attended the first Super Bowl, but the Coliseum could hold just over 78,000. It is the only Super Bowl on record that didn’t sell out.

The Chiefs Cheerleaders in Los Angeles for Super Bowl I. My dad is the back row on the right.
Courtesy Amy Appleton Dreyer

Being on the field as a Chiefs Cheerleader- the only cheerleaders at the first Super Bowl- is a memory I have heard my father tell and retell countless times. There he was, with his squad, greeting Len Dawson and the Chiefs led by Hank Stram down the tunnel and onto the field.

A patch from the 1960s given
to Chiefs Cheerleaders. 
Courtesy Mike Nauman

“Entering into the Coliseum was like going onto sacred ground,” Mike Nauman recalled. The Coliseum in Los Angeles was where all the major games were played. There were a select few, like my father and his friend, Mike, that were on the field at the Super Bowl. They knew being there on the field was something special.

But, they had no idea at the time that they were a part of NFL history.

As the records tells us, the Chiefs lost 35-10 to the Green Bay Packers that significant day in football history. After the following season, the Chiefs Cheerleaders eliminated men from the squad. A letter from Lamar Hunt thanking my father for his service is one of his prized pieces in his album. “Lamar Hunt was a class-act,” my father stated.

As Kansas City erupted in pure excitement when we brought the Lamar Hunt trophy back home for the first time in 50 years and prepare to go to Super Bowl LIV, I, along with most of us, cried tears of joy. We have waited so long for this! Then, I thought back to Randy, my father, and Mike- and how sometimes history is forgotten or told incorrectly.

Video from the first Super Bowl shows my dad cheering with
other cheerleaders as the Chiefs entered from the tunnel

Last year, national news proudly reported that for the first time ever in the history of the Super Bowl, men would be cheerleading. To be fair, these talented men on the LA Rams squad are professional dancers and are doing every move alongside the women.

Cheerleading as a sport has come a long way since the 1960s. However, these men were clouted to have been “the first male cheerleaders in league history.” This is simply not true. The old film from the Super Bowl game proves that my father and other men and women were there as cheerleaders- they made history.

A letter from Lamar Hunt in 1968 thanked my father for
his service to the Chiefs

Randy Neil also made history when he had the guts to send a letter to Lamar Hunt with the idea of starting the Chiefs Cheerleaders. From their beginning in 1963, there were men cheering along the sidelines, lifting girls and leading the crowd at Municipal Stadium in chants.

“In retrospect, it was a unique experience looking back,” Mike said. “We were a part of history.”

When we think of the cheerleaders along the sideline today, we picture beautiful, talented women dancing with their pompoms and jeweled uniforms. But the founding of cheerleading here in Kansas City started with the vision of a 21-year-old junior from KU and ended after the Chiefs Cheerleaders, including my father, were the first men and women to cheer in a Super Bowl game.

* Additional images below are courtesy of Randy Neil.
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May 1964 tryouts at Ward Parkway Center; a WDAF-TV photographer documents the moment. Image courtesy Randy Neil

Chiefs Cheerleaders appeared with WHB DJ's at the Benjamin Stables Rodeo in 1964. Image courtesy Randy Neil

Randy performing a one-armed lift with Marilyn Moot at the 1964 tryouts at Ward Parkway Center. Courtesy Randy Neil

The 1964 Chiefs Cheerleaders. Mike Nauman is on the left in the glasses; Gwen Simmons stands to his left. Randy Neil
is in the suit behind the drum. Image courtesy Randy Neil

The 1964 Kansas City Chiefs. Image courtesy of Randy Neil

Randy's personal calendar from August-September 1964 shows how busy the Chiefs Cheerleaders
were with promotional events and practices. Image courtesy of Randy Neil.