Cheryl Fairweather has some very good genes.
She should. After all, her father was the top high school runningback in the state of Texas. He also ran track and was an accomplished basketball player. He had his choice of playing football for any Division 1 college he wanted. Even the Dallas Cowboys were scouting him in high school.
Until a motorcycle accident took off his heel.
But even if he had lost his dreams of sprinting down a football field to the roar of 80,000 screaming fans, he still had good genes. And the fact that his first-born was a girl didn’t matter a bit to him.
“I was my my dad’s first child and, well, considering all things, he totally treated me like I was his first son! I mean it was crazy! I remember playing on his basketball team – with grown men! Wow. There’s so many memories that would seem impossible if I didn’t experience it myself.”
By the time Cheryl started high school she had already played on a number of competitive AAU basketball teams and was widely known in her hometown as a very good athlete. When she was in junior high school, the town’s high school coach approached her about running on the varsity cross-country team, a gruelling outdoor race involving natural and man-made obstacles that test the athletes as much as they test themselves. Running on a flat track is one thing, but running over water traps, hurdles, mud, snow, and, in some cases, each other, takes a different type of character.
“I yelled ‘YES!’ before I even realized what I had gotten myself into. Needless to say, I wasn’t a quitter. I bit my tongue, held in the pain, and ran my first season in cross-country. That year I placed in the top 15, which was totally unsatisfactory for me, so I vowed to keep running cross-country until I won. My sophomore year I placed 5th. My junior year I became state champion! I remember running in the snow thinking how crazy it was until I saw the finish line. Then, I was like ‘Yes! Finally I can quit!’ Granted, I already had two years as an All-Stater in cross-country, but to be the champion… priceless!”
But that wasn’t her only victory as a runner. Cheryl earned a number of awards and achievements in her high school career; 4-year letter winner in Track and Field, 3-time state champion in the 400m dash, state champion in the 200m dash, and state champion in the 4×400m relay. In the Junior Olympics she represented the USA in the 800m dash, the 200m dash, and anchored the 4×400m relay.
But she wasn’t just a fast runner. She lettered three years on the varsity basketball team, and once on the softball team.
“I was on the varsity basketball team, softball team, track and field team, and cross-country team. I received All-Area, All-Regional, and All-State honors in all sports mainly because of my speed. In softball I led the state in stolen bases. In basketball: steals. And track and field… well, they wrote this article called ‘Ike’s One in a Million’. I don’t know how I did it, but I was ranked in every event!”
For her first two years of college she ran for the University of Tennessee, the fanfare of “Rocky Top” pulsing as she raced for the Volunteers in the 400m hurdles. In 1995 she was ranked 5th in the nation and was named a Division 1 All-American, then was tapped as a USA Track and Field qualifier and Junior National qualifier.
She wanted to be closer to home, so she transferred to the University of Texas at Austin, where she became an Olympic Trials qualifier in the 400m hurdles. After graduation, she was coached by various Olympic coaches and athletes. In 2002 she was named a USA Track and Field Trials qualifier in the 100m hurdles.
“I don’t know, maybe because my father was a pure athlete and one of the best running backs in the state of Texas and being surrounded by all his achievements set me out on a course to be the best… I don’t know. All I know is I loved competing. Challenging the neighborhood boys to a race or a basketball game probably helped fuel me to be one of the state’s dominate female athletes. Gosh I remember them taking no mercy on me, but I had to gain respect with them. And eventually I did. The coaches started letting me anchor the relays and picking me before the other boys! While I was in the 8th grade I received a letter from the University of Kansas for a possible scholarship. I was like, ‘Whoa; you mean people notice me?’ So that created a drive that was just unthinkable to some people.”
And that drive is what led her to become one of the best players in the LFL.
“Why football? Why not football? I mean, I went to two major colleges where I got to hang around and watch athletes like Peyton Manning, Ricky Williams, and Preist Holmes; and witness national championships and rivalries to die for! The LFL presented an opportunity for me to experience the passion I witness these guys having on a daily basis. I mean, what athlete wouldn’t want to see what it’s like to play football?”
“When I first heard about the LFL I was like ‘WHAT!’ All I heard was ‘… a chance to play football and show the boys I’m just as good’! I still have the competitive ‘I can do that’ attitude when it comes to athletics. Wow, the LFL is exhilarating. I have played so many sports and none of them have given me the type of experience I have received since I’ve been in the LFL. Let’s just say I know why there are so many football leagues out there. Once you play, there’s nothing like it. Right now I’m like ‘WHEN DOES THE SEASON START!’”
Her enthusiasm, and her speed, is noticed by Philadelphia fans, too.
“At first I was like ‘Why are these people staring at me?’ It took awhile for it to sink in that my face was now all over the media here in Philly. My very first instance was pretty cool. I was in some random place and four guys came up and asked ‘You’re that player for the Passion right?’ I was cheesing from ear to ear for the simple fact that someone recognized my team, and I was even more flattered that they considered me a hard hitter! Then I was super grins for the rest of the day! I thought to myself ‘The LFL was the best decision I’ve ever made. This must be what it feels like to be recognized as a football player!’ That was the most exciting point for me. They didn’t care about anything else other than the fact that I was a football player!”
Any advice for those who want to experience that feeling, too?
“When it comes to sports many people believe you have to be born with superstar genetics in order to succeed. But what they fail to realize that it takes more than just genetics to become an athlete. Look at Steve Prefontane. He became one of America’s most decorated athletes because he decided running was what he wanted to do. He wasn’t naturally talented, but he was dedicated to what his heart was telling him; that he wanted to be the best. And he did more than just that. He became what others inspire to be.”
“As females in the world of sports, we are very fortunate to be able have so many opportunities open to us now. During World War Two, women were offered the opportunity to play baseball. Slowly but surely we became not just females trying to play a sport, but what we are now: athletes doing what we love. This isn’t about gender differences as much as it is about following your heart and pursuing whatever it is that you’re passionate about. You can become the greatest scientist, entrepreneur … or athlete. It’s all about what decision you make, and what you make of that decision.”
“Sports are an avenue to create new friendships and experience the power of working as a team, which can help socially develop you to face the difficult situations in life that will cross your path. Most importantly, it is wise to always have fun with it. Yes, its a lot of hard work, but you start this journey because something drew you to your prospective sports. Things may not always go the way you want them to, but that’s what makes sports what it is…. you always have the ability to improve and learn from your mistakes.”
“You can have a positive attitude towards your opponents and towards yourself. Yeah sure, you can get cocky sometimes, but remember, you’ll always need your teammates because without them there is no ‘you’.”
“I’m grateful to be able to play football simply because its something I’ve always wanted to try. Sure, it’s a highly skilled sport, but that didn’t stop me from at least trying it out. So don’t be intimidated and afraid to try new sports or a different position, because you may turn out like me and learn that you not only love it, but with a little practice, will, and determination, you can be pretty good at something new.”
Opportunities are funny things. Sometimes you find one or one finds you. Sometimes you make your own. But, when one does come along, it’s up to you to decide what to do with it. And that decision is going to be based on what you want to do, what you think you can do, and what you’re capable of doing.
Cheryl Fairweather didn’t start out dreaming of being a football player. She already had a long list of accomplishments on the running track, the basketball court, and the softball diamond. But when the opportunity came along to play a new sport – an opportunity that not many women will get – her drive, her ‘can-do’ attitude, and a very good set of genes helped her become one of the fastest, hardest-hitting players in the LFL.
Life may have taken something from her father, but it gave so much more to Cheryl.
Welcome to the All-Whigham team, Cheryl.
Long live sport.
