Carolina TopCats Cheerleaders are the official

cheerleading Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense Physical exercise, physical activity. It can be performed to motivate s ...

squad of the NFL's

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The t ...

. The TopCats perform during home games at

Bank of America Stadium Bank of America Stadium is a 74,867-seat multi-purpose stadium located on in the Uptown section of Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. It is the home facility and headquarters of the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League (NFL ...

, the home stadium of the Panthers. In 2022, the TopCats became the first cheerleading team of the National Football League to hire an openly transgender cheerleader.

Function

Auditions for the TopCats are typically held annually in April, which also take place at Bank of America Stadium. The group makes appearances at various events, as well as corporate appearances. The squad's staff includes Nicole Smith, Cheerleader Manager and Choreographer. As of

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, the squad currently features 31 members. The squad also has a "Junior TopCats" program, where girls from across the Carolinas participate in three clinics and learn a halftime routine to perform with the TopCats during a Panthers home game.

History

The squad was founded in 1995. In 2021, the TopCats, which had historically been all-women, added two male cheerleaders, Tre’ Booker and Chris Crawford, to their roster. In 2022, the TopCats became the first cheerleading team in the National Football League to add an openly transgender woman to their team, Justine Lindsay.

TopCats controversy

Controversy ensued in November 2005 when two Topcats allegedly had

sex Sex is the biological trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing organism produces male or female gametes. During sexual reproduction, a male and a female gamete fuse to form a zygote, which develops into an offspring that inheri ...

with each other in a bar in the

Channel District Channel District is a residential neighborhood in the City of Tampa that includes an entertainment complex, just east of Downtown Tampa, Florida. It is bordered by Ybor Channel on the east and Garrison Channel on the south. Channelside is a nic ...

Downtown Tampa Downtown Tampa is the central business district of Tampa, Florida, Tampa, Florida, United States, and the chief financial district of the Tampa Bay Area. It is second only to Westshore, Tampa, Westshore regarding employment in the area. Compani ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. Both of them were drunk and had been unable to leave the bar. One of the cheerleaders, who was underage for drinking, hit a patron in the face and was violent and rude towards police that attempted to apprehend them. She also allegedly gave officers a driver's license that belonged to a different member of the squad who wasn't in

Tampa Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

at the time. She was later charged with battery and giving a false name. The other was charged with disorderly conduct and

resisting arrest An arrest is the act of apprehending and taking a person into custody (legal protection or control), usually because the person has been suspected of or observed committing a crime. After being taken into custody, the person can be Interroga ...

, and was later released on a $750 bail. Both were eventually removed from the squad on November 7 for violating a code that they signed which bans conduct that can be considered embarrassing to the Panthers.

Notable member

* Justine Lindsay (2022-2023), first openly transgender cheerleader in the NFL

References

External links

Topcats official page

Football Babble page
{{NFL cheerleading squads Carolina Panthers NFL cheerleading squads Dance in North Carolina