Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders fan favorite Reece Weaver shocked many with her seemingly abrupt retirement — but DCC director Kelli Finglass saw it coming.
“I wasn’t shocked and I wasn’t surprised,” Finglass, 61, exclusively told Us Weekly on Tuesday, June 23. “I am happy for Reece. It’s a tough decision. I think it’s the right decision to make it sooner than too late.”
Weaver’s retirement reveal came at the end of season 3 of Netflix’s America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, which premiered June 16. She joined the team in 2023 and married her husband, Will Allman, shortly after the end of her first season.
“She’s, in essence, a newlywed,” Finglass said. “She’s got a bright future, whatever path she chooses. We obviously will miss Reece, like we do every cheerleader that retires after three years, four years, five years. But she definitely made an impression on our fans and she made a great example. Her legacy with us is always being such a poised example of a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader.”
She continued, “And if I keep talking too much, I will cry. So we need to change the subject.”
Weaver, 24, exclusively opened up to Us about her retirement decision, which was officially made in March.
“Going into season 3, my third year on the team, I just had so much gratitude,” she said on June 15. “My cup was filled to the brim even going into this year. I had that in the back of my mind. I was excited and looking forward to year three and what it brought. But my cup was getting really, really full. I went into my last game not thinking and knowing it was my last, but I kind of treated it as it was my last, so I could really just soak it all in. I think I really needed that sense of closure for my mental state.”
When it came time to actually break the news to Finglass and DCC choreographer Judy Trammell, Weaver said, “I don’t remember the last time I was that nervous to go into a conversation.”
“I wasn’t nervous about really telling them, it was more me actually saying it out loud,” she added. “Thankfully they were extremely supportive and excited for this next chapter that I’m about to endure. I think that was really reassuring.”
Netflix’s America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders is available to stream now.
