The last year has been a whirlwind for Cali Cummings, something she’s not likely to trade for anything. It culminated in February with a Philadelphia Eagles win in Super Bowl LIX on Feb. 9 and the championship parade five days later.
Cummings, a 2020 graduate of Saint Mark’s High School in Wilmington, is an Eagles cheerleader who spent Valentine’s Day with more than a million fellow Birds fans at the championship parade in Philadelphia. The whole day was an amazing experience, she said in a phone interview with The Dialog.
“There were so many people,” said Cummings, a member of St. John the Beloved Parish who went to the parish elementary school. “I can’t believe how many people drove up. People had signs saying they drove from Texas and pretty much all over the country. Pretty much anywhere you could imagine.”
The number of fans and their enthusiasm at each stop of the parade was overwhelming, she said. She especially enjoyed the time at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where players and coaches spoke to the throng.
“Just being able to see all of the fans right in front of me, and the spark all behind us was absolutely incredible,” she said.
Her Eagles cheerleading experience began last spring when she was a senior at Ohio State University. Cummings had been a dancer since she was a toddler and a cheerleader since her freshman year at Saint Mark’s. She knew National Football League teams normally hold auditions in March, so she sent the Eagles a video and went from there.
As she was going through the process of becoming an Eagles cheerleader, she graduated from Ohio State, moved back to the Delaware Valley and began working in Philadelphia. Ohio State won the college football national championship in January — a game Cummings was able to attend — and the Eagles moved through the NFL playoffs to Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans.
She tried to appreciate everything about the experience in the Superdome, from the lights to the halftime show to the fans’ reactions.
“I took every moment that I could just to look around the entire stadium and soak it all in,” she said. “The energy, the only way to describe it was so electric because the Eagles’ fans, they were just bringing all of the passion from Philly into the Superdome. It was just an incredible experience.”
The cheerleaders were able to watch most of the game. Most of their cheering took place during breaks in the action. The realization that the Eagles were going to be Super Bowl champions hit her in the fourth quarter of the 40-22 victory.
“It was absolutely incredible. It kind of made me reflect on the whole year, considering it was my first season. I was just so grateful that I got to experience it all,” she said.
The cheerleaders were able to get a group photo with the Vince Lombardi Trophy, and she has a photo of herself at midfield with a commemorative edition of the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Cummings also scooped up some of the green and white confetti that fell from the Superdome rafters to bring home as a souvenir.
“I can’t imagine a better season,” she said, although she would like to be back on the squad next year with hopes of a repeat performance.
