Jones and Finglass have a collective six decades of experience with the Cowboys
NEED TO KNOW
- Charlotte Jones and Kelli Finglass of the Dallas Cowboys recounted some of their favorite moments with the team
- Between the team’s vice president and the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders director, Jones and Finglass have more than six decades of experience with the organization
- Some of the most iconic moments from the team’s recent history includes run-ins with Beyonce and Dolly Parton
The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders have an extra starry history!
Charlotte Jones and Kelli Finglass — the co-owner and vice president of the Dallas Cowboys and director of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, respectively — sat down for a conversation with PEOPLE about their careers, their cheerleaders and their favorite moments (including some beloved celebrity cameos) from their years at the helm of America's Sweethearts and the team they cheer on.
Jones, daughter of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, has been with the football team nearly as long as her father has. Her contributions to the team and its games — including her creation of the Cowboys' 1996 Thanksgiving halftime show, which had never been done outside the Super Bowl at that time — have positioned her as an integral part of the organization.
Meanwhile, Finglass — who was featured throughout the Netflix docuseries on her squad, America's Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders — will celebrate 35 years as the team's cheer director this year. Finglass was formerly a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader herself.
In their years as Dallas Cowboys executives, Finglass and Jones have their fair share of celebrity tales to tell.
Courtesy of Netflix
While planning the team's 2005 halftime show, Jones recalled, sensitivities were high in the wake of that year's Super Bowl debacle (the infamous "wardrobe malfunction"); a Fox executive , was so worried about a repeat of that night that he told Jones to request the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
Though she declined, opting instead for Destiny's Child, executives still demanded that she ask the group to edit the lyrics for maximum family-friendliness.
"We get [Beyoncé] on the phone, her team doesn't want to tell her. And she took great offense that her lyrics were not offensive and that someone up there was misreading and misinterpreting her lyrics," Jones said. They all reached an agreement, but to the league's horror, the group's attire as midriff-baring. (She rush-ordered furs from Neiman Marcus, but they ended up on the field so the group could dance.)
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Another unforgettable moment in DCC history was when Dolly Parton appeared on the field in a Cowboys cheerleader uniform in 2023, at age . The country legend's fashion choice was "a surprise to all of us," Finglass recalled.
"She rocked it … she broke the internet," Jones said.
Kevin Sabitus/Getty
Jones realized in hindsight that they got a little hint that Parton might show out in Cowboys attire, because the day prior Parton was donning "Cowboy silver" with "blue stars and everything." When someone complimented Parton and asked her what she planned to wear the next day, Parton had a cheeky response, Jones said.
"Boy, when my husband sees what I have on tomorrow, he's going to fall out of that La-Z-Boy," Jones recalled Parton responding.
America's Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders will return this year for its third season on Netflix. Watch more of Finglass and Jones' empowering conversation above.
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