Just like most topics in NFL history, establishing who the first NFL cheerleading squad was is convoluted and subjective. Convoluted because most sources have different answers, subjective because only in sports are there so many ways to define who is “first.”

Who had the first NFL official squad? Who had the first cheerleading squad in the NFL that still exists today? Who had the first cheerleading squad that wasn’t NFL official? We will answer most of those questions and more.

Want to read about other aspects of NFL history? Look at my other work here.

Who Is Often Credited With First?

The Baltimore Colts are often credited as having the first official NFL cheerleading squad in the 1950s by some sources and the 1960s by others. This is technically true; they are the first NFL team to create their own cheerleading squad in-house.

Who Is The First Actual  NFL Cheerleading Squad?

Brace yourselves; things get technical.

The first group of cheerleaders that cheered for the NFL was assembled in 1948 and named the Eaglettes. However, they did not become the Philadelphia Eagles NFL cheerleading squad until the 1980s. In other words, they were independent until the 1980s, but the actual squad is about 40 years older.

The Green Bay Packers have the first actual cheerleading squad (in this author’s mind). The Packerettes debuted in 1931. They have a current starting QB’s level of ick, considering they were brought in from local high schools. Teenage girls cheer in front of adult players and fans. We’ll just leave that there.

It appears that they discontinued the use of children at some point, but it’s unclear when. The squad changed its name three times and was dismantled in 1986.

While Vince Lombardi was head coach, he insisted on the cheerleaders wearing modest clothing and not short skirts. Normally, that would be an annoying display of puritanical thinking rooted in shaming women for their bodies, but if the girls were still teenagers when he was coach, that should have been fully supported.

Ever since 1986, the team has recruited college cheerleaders to do their cheering on a part-time basis. They only do home games on a limited basis. But hey, at least they’re adults.

Who’s first on your mind? The first squad that came from high schools in 1931? The Eaglettes, who didn’t actually cheer for the NFL until the 1980s but were created in the 1940s, or the first NFL official squad of in-house adult women not affiliated with any schools in Baltimore in the 50s or 60s? Sound off below.

Why Did NFL Cheerleading Become A Thing?

To answer why NFL cheerleading became a thing, we can look at the creation of probably the best-known squad in the NFL, the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders.

NFL cheerleading squad

Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders – Dallas Cowboys

The then-manager of the Dallas Cowboys saw the ladies as an opportunity to market their team to a larger audience in a bigger way. A common marketing tactic.

Understanding that the entire concept behind an NFL cheerleading squad was to have beautiful women dance for the enjoyment of a mostly male audience, the manager actually initially hired models. Although modeling is incredibly hard work, it’s not physically demanding in the same way.

Models couldn’t handle the heat on the field, and their dance moves were apparently bad but not bad enough to be entertaining for spectators.

In an apparently cutting-edge move, the Dallas Cowboys brought beautiful and athletic women for practices. They chose women based on their looks and skills. They had to be beautiful, but they also had to be able to do choreography, which was brand new to the NFL cheerleading squads, too.

These initial Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders set the tone for the NFL cheerleading squads we know today. Many people do not appreciate the squads, which can be viewed as controversial. That’s completely understandable, but we just stuck to the history of NFL cheerleading in this article.

Justine Lindsay made history last year by becoming the first openly trans cheerleader in the NFL. Now that’s some NFL cheerleading history to be proud of!