The Los Angeles Rams have named two men to their official cheerleading squad, which the team claims is a first in NFL history.
Quinton Peron and Napoleon Jinnies were named to the 40-person squad from a field of 76 finalists. Both the Baltimore Ravens and the Indianapolis Colts have male stuntmen, but Peron and Jinnies, who are classically trained dancers, are said to be the first two men who are to perform the same routines as their female teammates.
Peron said he was inspired to try out for the squad while attending a Los Angeles Lakers game last month and watching the Laker Girls perform during a break in play.
“I thought: ‘Why not me? Why can’t I do this?’ So I called my friend and I asked her when auditions were for the Rams and she told me Sunday and I showed up,” Peron said in an interview on Wednesday.
“This one [audition] was about three weeks long and we had a bunch of rehearsals in between and an extensive interview process, but it was really humbling and amazing to be invited every time you came back,” Jinnes said.
Squad captain Emily Leibert said the California natives “really just fit the bill to be a Los Angeles Rams cheerleader.”
“They are intelligent, they are eloquent, they are more than qualified to be ambassadors out in the community,” Leibert said. “They bring so much energy and there’s something so magnetic about their performance, you really can’t take your eyes off them.”
However, their claim to history has not gone undisputed.
Billy Quercia on Thursday told TMZ Sports that he was a member of the Atlanta Falcons cheer squad during the 1987 and 1988 seasons, which archival team photographs confirm.
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