A dream is coming true for a Husker alumna.
Millard West graduate and former Nebraska dancer Maddy Unger grew up watching the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, and now she’s set to become one of them. She got the call on July 16 that she was one of six rookies chosen after nearly 800 tried out during a two-month long process.
As a young girl, Unger watched the “Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team” show on CMT with her mom, and the dream was born.
“I grew up watching the show on CMT with my mom,” Unger told Hail Varsity. “We watched that all growing up, and I loved it. I thought it was really cool, and my mom would always tell me, ‘You would be the perfect DCC, Maddy; you need to try out.’ But I was so young that I was like, ‘That would be awesome, yeah, great,’ but it always just felt very far off and kind of out of reach.”
Unger started dancing at the age of four for Fusion Dance Omaha, where she danced until she was 15. She joined the Millard West dance team in high school and danced all four years for the Wildcats. She then enrolled at Nebraska, where she joined the Scarlets Dance Team.
Unger considers her time cheering for Nebraska the best years of her dance career. She said her favorite memories were the sleepovers she had with her best friend the night before each football game, then cheering together the next day.
“Getting to do that with her every single Saturday, standing next to your best friend and looking up at 90,000 people, and cheering on, in my opinion, the best team ever, it was literally just a dream come true,” Unger said.
Unger graduated from UNL in May but wasn’t ready for the music to stop.
“I remember specifically just every first last of my senior year — my first last football game, or my actual last football game, all of those things,” Unger said. “Same with basketball; I was just like, I didn’t feel ready to give it up. And then I thought maybe it would taper off towards the end of my senior year, but it just never did. I just wanted to keep doing it. I love dancing. I love what I do, so I wanted to try to continue.”
That’s where the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders came back into the picture.
The tryout process starts online with each applicant sending in a one-minute solo audition along with a short introduction video. Round two is a longer video featuring choreography the applicants received from the team along with a more detailed introduction piece. After that, finalists travel for in-person auditions before a panel of judges. In all, the tryout process lasts two months, then boot camp is another month for those that made the team, including Unger.
Growing up Unger had not really considered dancing professionally, but after her coach took the team to a combine called Pro Action the year before her senior season of cheer, things began to change. The cheerleaders danced with pros and met with some coaches. From there, Unger saw the possibility of continuing her career in dance.
“After I did that, I kind of realized, like ‘Wait, this is something that I actually could do,’” Unger said. “So then, after that I kind of just wanted to learn. Since I was young, Cowboys was always the dream, but again, it just felt so far out of reach that I didn’t really take it into that much consideration.”
Throughout the tryout process, Unger learned the importance of leaning on others and their strength. She said that this, along with her strong faith, helped her through the process.
“I realized, my own strength will never be enough,” Unger said. “I’m passionate about my faith, and so I was just praying a lot, and I had to ask God to give me strength, because I was like, ‘I don’t have it right now.’ There were times where I literally would be like, ‘I have nothing right now, so please just help me.’ Also just leaning on the girls around you too, leaning into the veterans and also the rookies that you’re dancing with too. It takes a village to do it.”
Unger is also close with her family and is very thankful for all their support.
“I called my mom every single day, and my parents were always constantly giving me encouragement, but my own strength is not enough,” Unger said. “It truly does take a village, and I always want to credit the people who helped me along the way, because I literally could not have done it by myself.”
Looking back, Unger said that although her mom thought she’d be a dancer for the Cowboys, she never imagined herself that she’d be in this position.
“My younger self would be so proud and so happy,” Unger said. “Especially because this is a job for me now. I’m dancing because I love to dance, but this is one of my professions, which is really, really, really cool to say. And I think that younger Maddy would be very proud because dance has been my true passion my entire life. I think she would be very proud, but she wouldn’t believe it.”
One tradition the Cowboys have is their My Cause My Boot campaign game, where each cheerleader gets to represent a cause of their choice by putting it on their boot. Unger said she’s looking forward to this game.
“I don’t want to give away what I’m doing for my cause yet, but I’m really excited,” Unger said. “It’s something that’s really special to me and really special to my family, so I’m really excited to get to promote that for that game.”
Interacting with the fans is something that Unger’s really excited about when she gets to Dallas.
“The Cowboys is a world class organization, and so we’re known in more places than just Nebraska,” Unger said. ” I’m really excited for all the different types of people that I’m going to get to connect with, from all over too. I’m really, really excited for that part.”
Unger will head to Dallas to prepare for the upcoming season and will be on the sidelines soon.
