‘Once a cheerleader, always a cheerleader’: Mattapoisett resident performs at Atlanta Falcons 60th anniversary
Elaine Botelho shakes her pom poms.
Botelho stands tall as she gets ready to practice her routine.
Botelho prepares to practice her routine.
Botelho smiles with her pom poms.
Botelho practices her routine at the Wareham YMCA.
Botelho in the middle of her routine.
Botelho finishes her routine.
Botelho poses with her pom poms.
Botelho smiles her cheerleader smile.
Elaine Botelho poses with a football she has had since 1966.
Elaine Botelho poses with the other cheerleaders from the original 1966 team. Source: Elaine Botelho 
Elaine Botelho with the other cheerleaders from the 1960s and 1970s. Source: Elaine Botelho 
Elaine Botelho poses infront of a 60th anniversary poster. Source: Elaine Botelho
Elaine Botelho on the Falcons' field Dec. 7. Source: Elaine Botelho
Botelho in Atlanta before the game.
Botelho and her team practice the day before the game.
Elaine Botelho shakes her pom poms.
Botelho stands tall as she gets ready to practice her routine.
Botelho prepares to practice her routine.
Botelho smiles with her pom poms.
Botelho practices her routine at the Wareham YMCA.
Botelho in the middle of her routine.
Botelho finishes her routine.
Botelho poses with her pom poms.
Botelho smiles her cheerleader smile.
Elaine Botelho poses with a football she has had since 1966.
Elaine Botelho poses with the other cheerleaders from the original 1966 team. Source: Elaine Botelho
Elaine Botelho with the other cheerleaders from the 1960s and 1970s. Source: Elaine Botelho
Elaine Botelho poses infront of a 60th anniversary poster. Source: Elaine Botelho
Elaine Botelho on the Falcons' field Dec. 7. Source: Elaine Botelho
Botelho in Atlanta before the game.
Botelho and her team practice the day before the game.
MATTAPOISETT — Elaine Botelho was on the Atlanta Falcons’ first cheerleading squad in 1966.
The 78-year-old has lived in Mattapoisett since 2005 and is a mother, grandmother, teacher, gardener and former president of Mattapoisett Woman’s Club.
This year, she returned to the squad as part of the Falcons’ 60th anniversary celebration during a game against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, Dec. 7.
Botelho has been an active member of the alumni cheerleaders, having cheered at games in 2008, 2012 and 2017. She reconnected with the alumni 18 years ago over Facebook.
She had been practicing her performance at the Wareham YMCA for months, and said her favorite part was getting to perform in front of so many fans.
“There's nothing to compare to the exhilaration of a whole stadium of fans cheering,” Botelho said. “They were so proud of us.”
Botelho said she also loved being with her cheer-sisters from her original team, and all the new cheerleaders who were eager to meet her.
“I felt like I was like the great-great-great-great grandmother that came to meet them,” Botelho said laughing.
At the game, each generation had their own cheer. Botelho was grouped with the cheerleaders from the ‘60s and ‘70s.
Botelho was one of eight cheerleaders when the team joined the National Football League in 1966. Now, there are approximately 40 cheerleaders on the squad.
She was a sophomore at Georgia State and had not made the university cheer team the year before when she decided to try out for the team. She said she made up her own cheer and gave it her all with a smile on her face.
She only stayed on the team for one year, choosing to move and marry her husband, Mike, who was deployed in the Vietnam War. Botelho said she continues to cheer on her family, her faith, her country and even strangers in the grocery store because she wants to brighten peoples’ day and remind them life is good.
“I think about other things to perk people up and… [I] just put on the cheer smile — the cheer look, the sparkly eyes, and it makes people happy.”
Cheerleading is not easy, Botelho said, but she stays active by lifting weights and gardening, despite a hip replacement and scoliosis.
Botelho said that the people and positivity of cheerleading energizes her and if people stay active as they get older, they can continue to make the world a better place to live in.
“Once a cheerleader always a cheerleader,” Botelho said.
