The Texas Medal of Arts was handed out Wednesday in Austin honoring prominent creative talent with Texas ties. The honorees included music industry giant T Bone Burnett and actor Jamie Foxx. But the medal also celebrated a living art -- the Kilgore College Rangerettes.
The executive director of the Texas Cultural Trust Jennifer Ransom Rice told Texas Standard producer Laura Rice that the Rangerettes are iconic.
“I think that the whole impact that they’ve had on the drill team and precision dance culture throughout not just Texas but across the country – I mean they were sort of the first high steppers and high kickers to bring that style of performance into the mainstream,” Ransom Rice said, whose organization hands out the Texas Medal of Arts. “Now, you see it played out with the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders and other professional sports teams that I’m sure could trace their roots back to Rangerette days.”
The Kilgore Rangerettes are celebrating 75 years. They’re the subject of a new documentary “Sweethearts of the Gridiron” that is screening at film festivals across Texas now.