Texie Jane Waterman (November 25, 1931 – October 14, 1996) was an American choreographer, dancer, and dance teacher. She was the first choreographer for the

Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders (sometimes initialized as DCC, and officially nicknamed "America's Sweethearts") are the National Football League cheerleading squad representing the Dallas Cowboys team. History 1960s During a game between the C ...

Early life

Waterman was born in

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

on November 25, 1931, to Robert Harold Waterman and Texie Willis Waterman. She attended Highland Park High School. Her mother was a dance instructor who co-founded the Dallas Civic Ballet. Waterman grew up taking dance classes and, at the age of 17, started teaching dance in various towns in Texas, including Mineola.

Career

Waterman performed in summer musicals and, by the time she was twenty years old, she was performing on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

in New York City. In the 1950s, she was a dancer at the

Copacobana In cryptography, a custom hardware attack uses specifically designed application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC) to decipher encrypted messages. Mounting a cryptographic brute force attack requires a large number of similar computations: ...

and Versailles nightclubs in New York City. She also danced on

Sid Caesar Isaac Sidney Caesar (September 8, 1922 – February 12, 2014) was an American comic actor, comedian and writer. With a career spanning 60 years, he was best known for two pioneering 1950s live television series: ''Your Show of Shows'' (1950� ...

's variety show ''

Your Show of Shows ''Your Show of Shows'' is a live 90-minute variety show that was broadcast weekly in the United States on NBC from February 25, 1950, through June 5, 1954, featuring Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca. Other featured performers were Carl Reiner, Howa ...

''. Waterman eventually moved back to Dallas and took up teaching in the two dance studios owned by her mother. She owned her own dance studio in

Casa View, Dallas Casa View is a residential neighborhood in Dallas, Texas, United States, located near White Rock Lake in the northeastern portion of the city. According to the Greater Casa View Alliance, the Greater Casa View area is bordered by Buckner Boulevard, ...

, where she taught jazz dance and musical theatre. In 1954, Watterman met Dee Brock while the two were performing in the summer musical ''Wish You Were Here''. Brock went on to become the director of the

and, in 1972, she hired Waterman as their first choreographer in an effort to change the image of the squad. She choreographed for the cheerleaders from 1972 to 1983. She made appearances with members of the team on ''

The Love Boat ''The Love Boat'' is an American romantic comedy/drama television series that aired on ABC from 1977 to 1986; in addition, four three-hour specials aired in 1986, 1987, and 1990. The series was set on the luxury passenger cruise ship MS ''Pa ...

'' in 1977 and the 1979 film ''Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders'' and the 1989 film ''Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders II''. She retired in 1983 and was succeeded by Sharon Baker Werthmann, a former member of the squad, as choreographer.

Personal life

While dancing in the Poconos, Waterman met the actor

Arte Johnson Arthur Stanton Eric Johnson (January 20, 1929 – July 3, 2019) was an American comic actor who was best known for his work as a regular on television's '' Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In''. Biography Early life Johnson was born January 20, 1929, i ...

. They married in 1957. They later divorced. She married a second time, but that marriage also ended in divorce. Waterman married a third time to Hugh Howard, an advertising executive. She died of

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, malign ...

in Dallas in 1996. She was buried at

Restland Memorial Park Restland Memorial Park is a cemetery located in an unincorporated area of Dallas County, Texas between Dallas and Richardson. It is the final resting place of many prominent figures in the Dallas area, including politicians and professional athle ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Waterman, Texie 1931 births 1996 deaths American female dancers American women choreographers American choreographers Dallas Cowboys personnel American dance teachers Dancers from Texas Highland Park High School (University Park, Texas) alumni Entertainers from Dallas