TRADITION OF EXCELLENCE | Rangerettes present and past unite for 75th Goodyear Cotton Bowl performance
It’s going to be quite a celebration at AT&T Stadium on Friday.
And in this particular case, we’re not even TALKING about what happens if Texas beats Ohio State.
The Kilgore College Rangerettes are celebrating their 85th anniversary, and former Rangerettes – about 800 of them, we’re told – will perform once more at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl on Friday evening.
The game, of course, features the Longhorns against Ohio State’s Buckeyes in the semifinals of the College Football Playoff. This game will be the Rangerettes’ 75th time to perform at the Cotton Bowl. And one of the former Rangerettes that will be at the reunion / performance on Friday – Betty Taylor of Ennis, now 94 – actually performed in the drill team’s first-ever appearance at the Cotton Bowl.
The performance is set for 6:20 p.m., prior to kickoff.
The current line will perform, including the High Kick, and the Rangerettes’ alumni, from 275 cities and 33 states according to Kilgore College, will perform a special routine.
The first year of the Rangerettes, founded by Gussie Nell Davis, was 1940. There have only been three directors of the Rangerettes over these 85 years: Davis, Deana Bolton Covin, and current director Dana Blair, who has served in that role since 1993. She’s assisted by Shelly Wayne, and then dance technician and assistant choreographer Angela Aulds.
They’re called the “World Famous Rangerettes” for a reason: the team literally does travel worldwide: the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is a regular stop, as are Presidential and gubernatorial inaugurations. In 2021, they journeyed to Hawaii for the 80th anniversary of Pearl Harbor; in the last 20 years, they’ve performed in places like Birmingham, England (Birmingham Tattoo), Switzerland (Annual Basel Tattoo), and in Ireland and Scotland (for the annual Saint Patrick’s Day Parade and at halftime of a European Football League game).
Of course, ETBlitz.com will have staff at the game and coverage here on the site, not just of the game, but of the Rangerettes’ performance there.
So proud, to be a member, of this organization! I was a Rangerette , in1968-1970, 29th line and my daughter was, in 1996-98. She is performing, with the Forevers, Fri. and I performed, with them, in 2005