S2 Ep9: From the Eagles to the Panthers | Leslie Stephenson Matz | Bench to Bold

She graduated from UNC Chapel Hill with a French degree, moved to Philadelphia, and told her new boss she'd stay exactly one year. Thirty-plus years in the NFL later, Leslie Stephenson Matz is the woman who built the Carolina Panthers' TopCats cheerleading program from scratch, and is now being considered for the NFL's first-ever cheerleading Hall of Fame. In this deeply personal episode of Bench to Bold, Marnie sits down with her longtime family friend to trace the whole arc: working under Susan Fletcher, the first female GM in the NFL, during the Eagles' transformation from hobby operation to real business; surviving three ownership transitions including returning from maternity leave with a three-week-old; arriving in Charlotte in 1994 to build an expansion team with no players, no coaches, and no stadium yet built; and what it means to have spent a career doing something so subtle it's easy to miss — building friendships that last decades and showing the next generation of women what it looks like to be built up instead of torn down.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:
00:07 — Introduction — Family, the Eagles, and a French Major Who Changed Everything
01:15 — Fresh Out of Chapel Hill — The Job She Didn't Want  Leslie
03:46 — What It Was Like to Work for Susan Fletcher
06:26 — Women Supporting Women
09:29 — The NFL as a Startup
12:41 — Ownership Transitions
15:56 — Coming to Charlotte — Building the Panthers From Scratch 
17:37 — How Sir Purr and the TopCats Got Their Names
18:52 — The NFCAA Nomination
23:37 — Legacy

ABOUT LESLIE STEPHENSON MATZ:
Leslie Stephenson Matz is a 30-year NFL veteran who served as Director of Special Events and Entertainment for the Carolina Panthers and, before that, spent 12 years with the Philadelphia Eagles under Susan Fletcher, the first female GM in NFL history. At the Panthers, Leslie founded the TopCats cheerleading program in 1996 and oversaw the mascot, cheerleading, pregame, halftime, and major organizational events for the franchise's first decade. A native North Carolinian and UNC Chapel Hill graduate, she is a member of the Carolina Professional Football Cheerleader Alumni Association and has been nominated for national recognition by the National Football Cheerleaders Alumni Organization (NFCAA), which is working toward establishing a dedicated Hall of Fame in Canton for cheerleader directors, coaches, and choreographers.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:07

Hi everyone. Welcome to another episode of Bench to Bold. I'm Marnie. And I'm Elisa. And we have a family member joining us today. Well, not, I mean, she has no choice. She's my family. Um, I might not be hers, but she's my family. I'm super excited to have Leslie Stevenson Matz join us. And um, Leslie has an incredible story, an incredible journey. Like I said, she's part of my family, has been for decades and decades. And so, Leslie, thank you for joining us. Thank you for having me. I'm so honored to be with you and Alisa. It's great. Yes, likewise. Yeah. Well, Les, you know, love you lots. You are family. All right. And uh, Leslie, you have an incredible story, an incredible journey of your career and um some recent very big accolades. Um, but uh let's just start from the beginning. So you're a native North Carolinian, but then ended up in Philadelphia and then ended up back in North Carolina. So why don't you just share that uh very circuitous journey for us?

SPEAKER_02 1:13

I would love to because it so involves you and especially your amazing mom. Um, I was born, as Marnie said, in North Carolina, born and raised, went to Chapel Hill, Go Heels, and then moved to Philadelphia fresh out of college for a job with a tutoring agency. I was a French major, go figure. And um I realized I needed to buy a car and get an apartment. And Marnie's mom, Susan Fletcher at the time, Susan said, Come work for me. And I said, I don't want to work for an NFL team. I had no interests, you know, I just really didn't care to, even though I love the Eagles. I just wanted to be a fan, not work there. And she said, Well, think about it. So I thought about it for a week and I realized I do need to buy a car and get an apartment. So I'll tutor on the side and I told Susan, Marnie's mom, that I would work for her for one year and then I would be out of there. And she had just come on board as the first female uh GM in the NFL, N VP of the team, and ran that organization to get it back in shape. Uh, so I realized later what an honor it was to be part of that, but at the time I didn't. I was this young, naive girl fresh out of college. So I did it for a year and then ended up staying 12 years instead of one year. So um, but it was thanks to your mom that I have had all of the opportunities I have had in my career in the NFL through the Eagles and then subsequently the Panthers. And that would not have been possible without your mom, um, her pushing me and believing in me and training me, teaching me. So I cannot say enough amazing things about your mom for who she was and how she influenced me in my career, and what an honor it was to see you grow up and that NFL environment as well, and to become who you are and how you are today has been so great to see your journey in the NFL as well and in professional sports.

SPEAKER_01 2:58

Oh, thank you, Leslie. All right, well, so um, but there was a couple of details that I you know I think we need to add in. So you had graduated college, you really didn't have your so this was your first real job, right?

SPEAKER_02 3:11

Working absolutely. Aside from babysitting and being a waitress and done nothing except yeah, until till the Eagles.

SPEAKER_01 3:17

And there was no football team, professional football team in the Carolinas. So you get to Philadelphia and you're living with your aunt and uncle, and then you're like, I'm gonna go work at a football at a football team and have Susan, my mother, as your first boss. So what was what was it like having, you know, uh be working at a team and working with a a woman that was definitely, you know, disciplined? I'll just say just yeah, very disciplined.

SPEAKER_02 3:46

Yes, it was, I had nothing to compare it to in all honesty, but I knew your mom. She had worked in my uncle's law firm, so she saw my work ethic, and I had seen her and knew she was tough as nails, but fair and brilliant. So um, once I did accept a job, um, I didn't know what I was in for. Um, your mom, uh Marnie, I you know I say this with love, and at least there's two, she made me cry most every day. Um, but but not because she was mean, but because she she just expected a lot as she should, which is another reason why it helped me become the executive I was in the NFL, because I had to be tougher. I'm still, I still can cry at the drop of a hat, but I um but bottom line, your mom really she taught us professionalism and to not take anything just and to to know that we were just as good as the men in the industry. Your mom uh preached that to all the women she brought into the Eagles organization, uh, of whom there were uh let's see, me, me, Vicky, Donna, myself, four key people knew, plus the wonderful ladies who already worked in the Eagles organization in the accounting department and ticketing, for example. So um it was it was tough. Um, I would not your mom really um preached such a tough work ethic that I would not leave my desk till I knew she was on a flight to go somewhere so that I could, I could like, okay, I can I can run an errand or run to the bathroom or something. And that makes her sound mean, but she wasn't. It was just she expected a lot, and I wanted to do the best I could for her, and I wanted to be available if she needed me, and uh, because she had very few people that she could truly trust. And I was in that inner circle of people whom she could trust, and that was an honor. Um, and I just learned so, so much from her, and I'll be eternally grateful to her for that. Um, and remind me to tell you, I don't know if it's appropriate now or later, the side story about uh meeting my husband, because that's kind of cool.

SPEAKER_01 5:43

No, of course it's appropriate, but you know, I think that what my mom saw, you know, she loved this line get the goods. You had the goods, Leslie. So I think that, you know, some people are really good at figuring out who they know, and it doesn't matter necessarily their experience or whatever, but they can bring something to the table, which obviously you were able to bring. And what I also think is so great is the friendships that you were able to develop and that you still maintain, and you know, what that was like for you, you know, developing new friends. And it's hard for women to make friends, and but but also obviously when friendships are formed under duress, which it might have been working in a high pressure situation, I think that those friendships really do last.

SPEAKER_00 6:26

But it was fortunate for you to have someone to set you up for success and not failure, because I've had a lot of bosses, a lot of female bosses, um, that did not set me up, I feel like, for success, but only failure. So you actually had that, and you carried that through the rest of your life, which set you up for such success that you'll be able to tell us more about uh later on in this conversation. But I feel like um Marnie, just knowing her a little over a year, she was set up for pure success from her mother as well, and she's doing the same thing for her kids. And not too many people do that for their children these days, and they set them up for failure instead of success. And I feel like one day that one reason or way they do that is they give them everything.

SPEAKER_02 7:11

Yes, you're exactly right, Elisa. It's and Susan definitely she embraced the women around her and everyone in the organization, but especially that core group of women. Uh, for example, when the team was getting sold, um, unfortunately in 1985, um, uh, because it was sad to see that era end and another begin, no matter who the owners are. Um, but at any rate, um, Susan had the core group of women put the help put all the um materials that we needed, the due diligence for the sale of the team. And we worked night and day. It was it was tough, but boy, did we learn a lot, and it made us even closer. And to your point, Alisa, we the friendships that we developed. Um, my best friend is Donna Wall. She was Donna Nedurian then, and I hired her back in 1984 to work for Marnie's grandpa because I was working for her mom and her grandpa, and I just could not do it all. And um, and he wanted me to work for him, but then she I was working for her mom, so it's like can't split me in two. So, bottom line, hired Donna, and we continue, we are been best friends for 42 years, and what a gift that is. And and both of us used to babysit for Marnie when she was young, so it just it all goes full circle, um, and in a wonderful, warm, fuzzy way. So I'm just so so grateful.

SPEAKER_00 8:23

Yeah, it's a a lot of times it's nice to you don't realize it because you're so young and you had just graduated college at Chapel Hill and moved to Philadelphia and you were young, and you don't realize the reasoning behind um people making you earn things instead of just giving them to you, um, which has a you know a positive impact on your life as well when you earn those things. You feel much better about yourself when you earn them and you've you've figured out ways to um do things for yourself because you you you learn independence too, and you carry that that throughout your life in all areas of your friendships, your relationships with your, you know, whether it be work, family, friends.

SPEAKER_02 9:02

That's a great point. And I definitely had to because I I knew nothing about the NFL, didn't know many people in Philadelphia, knew some, but not many, so it was new territory for me, but uncharted territory. But um, Susan and the other people in the Philadelphia Eagles organization made it uh very comfortable for me from day one. So I there were a lot of us who were very young then, who grew up there, got married, had babies, and then continued doing life and continued to keep in touch.

SPEAKER_01 9:29

Yeah, I think it's so interesting. It was really like a startup company because at that time, even though it was a professional team, they were really run like a hobby. And then it turned into running it like a business. And I think that that was really when Leslie started at the Eagles. My mom was, you know, just getting in there and looking at this company saying, Oh, good lord, this is a disaster. You know, this is not a hobby. And there's a rubber stamp, people were signing checks with my grandfather's signature with the rubber stamp, and it was, you know, wild, it was wild. And suddenly it was like, okay, no, wait a minute, we're gonna turn this into a business. And it was really truly the first time, the first time that teams were really and across the NFL, actually, that they really started taking it from a hobby of kind of just a bunch of dudes that you know like to hang out with each other into a real business. And so that's something that now we can look at the the blueprint of what the current NFL is, and it doesn't happen without Leslie and Donna and Mimi and my mom, because they really went from being this startup company into a full-fledged business.

SPEAKER_00 10:37

And back then, women really weren't doing these things, right?

SPEAKER_02 10:40

No, yeah. No, they were there were secretaries, and there's that's a wonderful role. And my friend Donna, for example, she was a secretary, she could take shorthand. I never knew how to do that. So whenever Susan, Marty's mom, needed someone to take do dictation, Susan. I mean, Donna went in and did that because I wasn't nearly that fast.

SPEAKER_00 10:58

And she Donna was telling us that great story out at Super Bowl because Donna was out there with us and she was telling us Randy wanted to know the relationship between all of you. And uh Donna was telling us that story about the shorthand.

SPEAKER_02 11:09

Yeah, yeah, it was funny. And and I was just I was in awe of her. I'm like, I cannot, you know, we eat God gives everybody different gifts, different talents, and uh, but at the same time, as you said, Elisa, we're expected to, we need to learn how to um whether it's uh develop those talents or find new ones, um, find passions and develop those on our own and be independent. And that's something that, like you said, it's up to us to instill in our our children and those around us that. And Susan definitely did that for me. And and Marnie, I love what you said. It was with the men before as hobbies, more like the boys' club, you know, back in the old days. It really was.

SPEAKER_01 11:42

It was just a hobby, you know, for a bunch of you know, wealthy, well-dressed, or not even necessarily well dressed. But I mean, but they were visionaries, those guys. I mean, they were definitely understood what was coming and they had an idea that this is going to be something big, but turning it into a business, and that's really where I think my mom, you know, was able to uh create something out of nothing, because otherwise the team would have not been, you know, where they are today. But taking something and saying, all right, we have something here, this is kind of a rough idea, but can we turn it into a business? Going from AM to FM radio, things like that. But also, Leslie, you know, staying on a team after there's a a sale and a transition, the transition team usually leaves, but obviously, I mean, they usually they go. It doesn't even matter how good they are, but obviously you and the team there was great, were great. Um, and so they kept you. So, what was that? You know, so that transition, and you've done it a couple of times, transitioning from owner to owner.

SPEAKER_02 12:41

Yes, for at the Eagles, obviously at the Panthers, I did not. Um, uh I left before um Mr. Tepperball at the Panthers, but at the Eagles, obviously, from your grandpa to Mr. Brayman, and that was when we all got together for the due diligence and work with the attorneys so closely, the core group of women. Um, and then beyond that, um the team uh was sold to Jeffrey Lurie. I was out on maternity when the team was sold. So uh Connor, our son, was three weeks old, and I had to put on my business suit and come in and meet with an outside independent party to pass inspection, if you wish. Uh, and I was nervous, but uh I had that maternal instincts too. Uh, you know, that we're kicking in wanting to be with our son, but knowing that I love my job. And uh it's all I'd ever known uh after college. And uh so I went in, did the interview, passed inspection, was was kept on. But right after that, I had talked to the Panthers uh because once again that maternal instincts had kicked in, and they really wanted the opportunity to raise Connor near my parents here in North Carolina. Uh they've since passed on, but what a gift that was to raise him near them. So the Panthers flew me down. I had to get permission from the Eagles, from Harry Gamble, our president at the time, to interview and um flew down and uh did the job interview and got the position as director of entertainment special events, which encompassed the mascot and cheerleaders. At the Panthers, it was um I was actually, you know, your mom's assistant, so I was her admin assistant and also kind of was dabbling with the marketing department um when the team, I guess before the team was sold a little bit. Um, and uh then was working in marketing and helping with the cheerleader program. And then after that, uh when uh Mr. Brahman bought the team, he fired our marketing department. We had two fine people, but they had the they're had their choices of what they wanted to do. And then I was in the marketing department by myself and they hired this gentleman to come in and run it. So I was made the associate marketing director at that time and then made cheer director with no background in cheerleading, mind you. Um I'm not a dancer, never have been. I don't know about you ladies, but I um I I I have no rhythm whatsoever at trials. The cheerleaders of both squads would come up. How do I do this this movement? I said, ladies, I have no idea. Go ask the choreographer, but I can tell them if they're doing it well as a fan, you know, which brings a different perspective. So, bottom line, um did a different job at the Eagles in terms of marketing and cheerleader director at the Panthers, director of entertainment, encompassed pregame halftime, serpentopcats, golf tournaments, Christmas party for the organization, blah, blah, blah. And then um that's about it. So it's different, but yet a lot of the same things.

SPEAKER_01 15:22

All right, but wait, tell us you're being very humble, Leslie. So you leave Philadelphia to go back to North Carolina, but the team was not already established here. So what is that like? And then also everybody wants to know how I I think the best mask, I mean, of course, I love Swoop in Philadelphia, but I would say this that I do believe that the Carolina Panthers have the best mascot and and uh in the NFL. So how did um that mascot get his name? And also the cheerleaders. So tell us about that.

SPEAKER_02 15:56

Definitely, I'd love to. Um, yeah, it was strange number one, coming mid-season in October of '94. We're playing games at the at the Eagles, right? We are we are in season, we're in full speed ahead. And coming down to the Panthers, my first day of work, which was I believe October 15th of '94, we had a golf tournament. And they told me there, you'll be doing this in the future. So I'm like, oh, okay. So I uh we were a small organization. We had no players, no coaches. Um, we were in a building in uptown Charlotte because the stadium was getting built at the time. So it was so different. We were wearing hose and heels, and at the Pant at the Eagles, you know, we were dressed respectfully, but uh respectably, but not um, we could be a little more casual because it was a sports environment. Um, so uh so did everything in Uptown Charlotte, and that part of that included developing the Top Cat or the Cheerleader program and the mascot program. So we brainstormed about ideas, and I asked my husband, I said, you know, you're he's very creative, like our son is. So I said, Do you have any ideas? And he came up with Sir Pur and the Topcats. He actually named both of them. Uh, and we didn't automatically name them that. We had a vote in the office without anyone knowing what that he had picked those names. Uh, it was a blind vote uh with a lot of different suggestions that people in the organization and outside had had provided to us. And we thought that Charlotte being the Queen City of Queen Charlotte, that Sir was royal, it sounded like a like royalty, so Sir Pur, and then the top cats, because you know, we wanted to be, you know, obviously cats of some sort, and we thought Sir Per and the Top Cats just sounded great, or my husband did, and then he brought it to us, and like I said, we voted and his his uh choices were selected. So it was pretty cool. He's got that, he loves. I've actually I was judging the um the talent competition last night, and we got these these nice um drinking glasses, and I see that logo, and this has not changed since uh 30 plus years ago, and I look at that and think, you know, that's pretty cool. My husband named them, you know, and then and the logo that it hasn't changed is pretty pretty cool too in that regard. So um, so kudos to my hubby for naming them.

SPEAKER_01 18:04

Yes, that's great. And you know, what's funny is that every time I will meet a top cat cheerleader and I will ask them, you know, do you know Leslie? And of course their mouths drop open, like, of course we know, like, yes. And how do you know Leslie? And they, you know, a couple times, a couple times it's happened, they were like, Were you? I'm like, no, I was not. Like, I I think sheepishly they might be like, Were you a cheerleader? But I then I'm like, no, before they even get the question out, I'm like, I was not a cheerleader, but I wish. Uh, but then uh, so yes, I think that um naming the top cats and uh NSERPER is something that is very cool. And also now you've been nominated for the NFCAO Award. So what is that, Leslie? The NFCAO Award.

SPEAKER_02 18:52

That is an organization that's obviously our acronym for the National Football Cheerleaders Alumni Organization. It is obviously a national group uh of former NFL cheerleaders. Uh we are not legally allowed to be called NFL Cheerleader Alumni Organization just because of um any, if there's ever any for legal reasons, just that we have to be separate, but yet we're tied in. So it's recognized, it's the part of the NFL that recognizes former cheerleaders and directors and choreographers slash coaches uh for their excellence as working with the squads in the past and perhaps the present as well. So um every NFL squad of which there are currently 26 has a chapter, at least most of us have an active chapter, and the Panthers do. We're the CPF CAA, which is Carolina Professional Football Cheerleader Alumni Association. So, once again, for legalities, we're not officially the top cat alumni, but we are, but not legally. Um the CPF CAA Um, along with other chapters, each chapter nominated people for both their local chapter, and I was honored to be selected in the local chapter to be recognized as our inaugural legend, along with Dewanda Biddle, one of our um top cats from 1997, the second year we had a squad. And so she and I were selected as the two people to be inducted this year, and then apparently the other part of it is the on the national level, you look at people that you have on the local level, and for meaning with Duanda and myself, and then you nominate someone to for the national level. So I was the top cat alumni selection for to be considered nominee for the national level. And they'll we should know in about a week or two at the most, if I'm selected to that uh group, it will be an honor. Uh, there's so many deserving women though from over the years that I just look at this as I'm grateful to be recognized for my work in both with the Philadelphia Eagles and the Carolina Panthers and on the local level and to be receive a national nomination. And uh beyond that, if that happens, that's great. It would be cool. They're they're hopeful at someday to have a place in the Hall of Fame in Canton for all of the cheerleaders, slash coaches, slash um directors and choreographers who have already been selected and those who will be selected. There's there was a class in 2022, the inaugural class, and there were six that first year. And then it's every two years. So in 2024, five more women were selected. And I don't know how many women they're going to select this year. Or it could be men. Uh, we had a wonderful guy, Donald Wells, at the Redskins, uh, that he would be great to be in this Hall of Fame. Uh, so it could be men or women that would be selected for this um honor.

SPEAKER_00 21:33

What a journey.

SPEAKER_02 21:35

Yeah, it's neat. And I have my Marnie's mom to thank for all of it. I mean, I really, you know, who would have thought a young girl from North Carolina with a degree in French would uh be have the opportunity to work for an NFL team. And like I said, it's all thanks to Susan's mom, I mean to Marnie's mom, Susan. And as an aside, that I do want to bring in that it's thanks to my prof my job at the Eagles that I met my husband, Chris. He was a client, and um he Someone else was a sales rep and she said, You got to meet this guy. He's really cute. He's really nice. And it was Friday before home game. And I was like, I have no time. I wasn't interested. I was just doing my job. So I threw some cheerleader calendars at him and I said, Nice to meet you. I've got to go. And blah, blah, blah. And then we met a few months later at our marketing reception for all of our clients. And I was the marketing director. And I talked to all of our clients, but I'll be honest, I spent most of the evening talking to him. And we had a date about four days later and hit it off and got married a year and a week later. So I think uh that was and a beautiful wedding. Yes, and you were there and your mom was there. It was it was wonderful, and we had a lot of fun. And once again, had it not been for Susan introducing, I mean, introducing me to the NFL and having a career there and her giving me that opportunity, I would not have met my husband. So it's all a God thing, I feel, but at the same time, I um I'm grateful that Susan is the human being that um was the impetus behind everything, so many things that I've been had the opportunity to experience in my lifetime, thanks to her.

SPEAKER_01 23:07

Well, I'm I know that people probably say the same thing about you, Leslie. So I think that that you have definitely brought so many people to where they can live. Like the name of the show is Bench to Bold, but where they can live their bold life. So obviously, you know, what are some moments that have been uh bold moments for you? And I and again, like I know that you have uh helped other people achieve their bold moments. And so what my mom did was just what we're supposed to do out there as you know, good people.

SPEAKER_02 23:38

Wow. Um well thank you, Maureen. I gosh, trying to think of any particular thing. I I I think mine is more of an ongoing thing that it can, it's very subtle, so it's not bold outwardly, but it's something that to me is the most important thing in my career as an NFL cheerleader director or professional cheerleader director for any organization, is something that, like I said, it's very subtle. From the Eagles and the Panthers, the women who make the squad, or in sometimes in cases men afterwards, um some years they've had men, but for the young people who make the squad, I always tell them I said, the most important thing I want you to get out of this experience is the friendships that you develop. Some of them may be lifelong. And we don't push that. We just tell them, we hope that they have that experience because it's so special and you it's it's not like anything else you've experienced. And I look at the women, in my case, the women who have been on all the squads that I was associated with, and I see the lifelong friendships and the support they give each other, one another. And that to me, um, they in turn take that and take it to the next level with other people, of people that come into the squads after them, perhaps, or in their jobs to um, or with their children, you know, to encourage the friendships among their children with other young people. Um, just that lifetime relationship, like I have with you and Donna, you know, and others from the Eagles, um, you just you can't put a price tag on it. And so it's not necessarily a bold thing, it's very subtle behind the scenes, but to me, it's bold in terms of the impact it has. Um, and I think that's so important. And we can preach all we want, but we've got to live it. And um, that's what I think, you know, I've done with my relationships in the NFL, and you have as well. And uh now you and Elisa have started that wonderful friendship and and business venture that I think um you know you can tell it's gonna be a lifetime thing. And as women, it's very important for us to do that because we we need to be women supporting women. Uh, and to your point earlier, Lisa, women supporting women as opposed to trying to tear each other down. And all of these people I've seen come through the NFL on the cheerleading squads, uh, they support each other. I mean, last night it was a talent competition, and one person at a time is going, and all of the ladies on the sidelines, if you wish, were cheering them on. They uh they were helping them bring their props out for the for the talent show part of it. And it just was such a warm feeling. There was nothing cutthroat about it. It was women supporting women, and I think that's one of the most important things we can do. Nothing wrong with the guys, but you know, we've always had to catch up, just like your mom had to do in the NFL. And uh, and I think there's nothing better than the scene women believing in one another and supporting one another.

SPEAKER_00 26:43

Likewise. Marnie and I talk about that a lot. And yeah, I mean, it's about collaboration and putting, you know, your heads together and one uh more heads is better than one.

SPEAKER_01 26:55

Yes, very good. Also, you know, I think that having fun together too, and I do remember that, you know, you guys back in the 80s, I think there was a I think you guys had a lot of fun. I mean, I I definitely know my mom uh liked to have fun. She was a fun person, even though it was a very stressful job, but did everything she could to try to have some moments of fun, even if she wasn't having fun. She wanted other people to have fun. And uh, I know that you know, not for this show, but maybe, maybe actually. Uh, there were definitely fun moments that I got to witness, um, which I love. I got to witness, you know, women having fun together without any um agenda or real other than just supporting one another and really celebrating each other.

SPEAKER_02 27:40

Absolutely. She did. Friday, she would get the you know, people together after work. We weren't gonna go uh out on the roads, so we would hang together at the office, but um have some time to hang out together. And it was very relaxing, and it was a good way to wind down from the intense week because usually most weeks were pretty intense because everybody was hustling, getting their job done.

SPEAKER_01 28:00

Yeah, again, it was like a startup. And I think that obviously teams and businesses are certainly NFL team professional teams are very stressful jobs, but I think that even back then the stress was different because it was taking something that was there, like the raw ingredients, and then putting it together to create something that we now know as this modern professional football team. And so you guys were all there doing it for us. So thank you.

SPEAKER_02 28:29

I'm so grateful to have you what you just said reminded me of this. Um, it's such big business now, the NFL is, and it's all pro sports, and uh and there's nothing wrong with that. But I'm grateful to have been part of the Philadelphia Eagles organization when it was small. Like you said, start up if you wish, but um, which it was, but uh we all knew each other, number one, the small, much smaller organizations, just like the Panthers were so much smaller back when I started in '94 there, versus now. And they have to be bigger now because of everything they're doing. But back in the old days, you know, we knew everyone knew everyone, coaches, players, uh, cheerleaders, front office. Uh Frank Gans was our special teams coach at the Eagles when I was there. His birthday is one day after mine. He's passed on now. But I would be the first non-football employee in every day because I had to beat your mom to work, you know, had to be ready to go before she got there because that made my day better. And Frank Gans would always say to me, Leslie, what goals have you set for yourself today? And I'd say, Well, Frank, uh, let me get a cup of coffee and I'll get back to you. Because he was intense and he was, but he was a pump-up type of guy. And and I love that about Frank. And even after I left the Eagles and he, I forget where he went, he went to Kansas City, but um, we kept in touch. I would he didn't call me, but I would call him every year on his birthday to wish him happy birthday. And, you know, that was special. Um, and that just happened for a few years, but just you know, the relationships that you can develop with people and respect, um, I just can't say enough good things about how how unique that experience was and uh getting to know people.

SPEAKER_01 30:08

Yeah, well, Leslie, thank you so much for joining us today. And I cannot wait to find out more about the NFL NFC uh NFC AO award that uh I will be sharing for you.

SPEAKER_02 30:24

And uh when so now a week or so from yes, around April 1st, they're supposed to announce around April the first, and we'll find out. So it's exciting, you know.

SPEAKER_00 30:34

That's very exciting, yes.

SPEAKER_02 30:37

And I thank you, ladies, for having me on. It's I always love talking about my um time in the NFL because such great memories, you know, really special, special memories. So I love sharing.

SPEAKER_01 30:49

Well, thank you for joining us, and uh thank you, Chris, for uh naming the top cats and Sir Pur. And uh, you're a great mom, Leslie. And so uh I I'm you're a great friend and and uh and a great mom and a great businesswoman. So I know many people have been inspired by all the things that you have done and encouraged them to go do. So thank you for joining us.

SPEAKER_02 31:12

Thank you so much. It's an honor, and uh, look forward to seeing you guys soon, hopefully.

SPEAKER_01 31:15

Yes, definitely. All right, well, thank you everyone. A very personal bench to bold. So thank you for joining us. I'm Marnie and I'm Alisa, and uh we'll see everyone soon. See you soon, welcome to the ball.