Parker Blakely, right, a 2013 Pendleton High School grad, tries out in 2023 for the LA Rams cheer team. The Rams have employed male cheerleaders since 2018. Blakely made the cut.

LOS ANGELES — Locals will see a familiar face on the sidelines of L.A. Rams home games this season.

Parker Blakely, a 2013 Pendleton High School grad, made the cut for this year’s Rams cheer team.

“I never saw myself dancing for a pro team,” Blakely said.

Though he said the audition process was intense, he added, “Not because I didn’t think I could do it, but men and sports teams, it’s just not really done. The Rams were the first to welcome male cheerleaders into their organization (in 2018). It’s a style of dance I really do love and I’m a very competitive person, so to be on the field during gametime and see an incredible American pastime play out …” he trailed. “So many little things turned into me recognizing that.”

Blakely found his start at the age of 10 at Debbie Kishpaugh’s Jr. Jam Dance Studio in Pendleton.

“I don’t really know what piqued my interest with it,” Blakely said. “I think that it was just that I was a really active kid and nothing was piquing my interest. My parents decided to put me in dance.” He said his parents saw his passion develop and continued to encourage him.

In addition to Jr. Jam, he danced for Pendleton High all four years, was a team captain his senior year, made it to the state championships all four years and was even awarded a dance scholarship. He said recognition and respect for his passion gave him the confidence to pursue dance in college.

Blakely graduated from Chapman University in Orange, California, in 2017 with a bachelor of fine arts in dance performance and minor in integrated educational studies.

He was attracted to Chapman while attending a dance competition in the area. Blakely said he took notice because there were men on the Chapman dance team performing at the forefront alongside the women and not just doing lifts and backup dancing.

“(Chapman) had an incredible program and I knew that I wanted to pursue the commercial industry in dance,” he recalled. “I wanted to be on TV, commercials, Broadway.”

Coming from a rural community, Blakely said, “Some may see it as being an underdog, but I had everything to learn. I had no bias about the world, I was not shutting myself off from anything … I could either look at it as a deficit or something that’s going to help me.”

In addition to his studies, he made the Chapman dance team. He learned a lot about himself during those four years and began to establish himself in the industry, too, working for Disney as a parade performer at Disneyland.

In 2019, he made a break when he was cast as a dancer in the “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” scene in the Oscar-nominated Netflix film “Blonde” based on the Marilyn Monroe novel by Joyce Carol Oates.

Then, the coronavirus pandemic hit and he watched the entertainment industry crumble.

“I saw my bank account depleting and that terrified me,” he recalled. “I knew that I wanted to be a part of the industry … it made me really figure out that I wanted to be as secure as possible, and once I have that security, I can start pursuing other opportunities.”

“It’s hard to explain L.A., the whole film/TV industry,” Blakely continued. “It’s one of the most incredible rides, but there are times when the roller coaster feels like you can’t handle it, where the G-forces are too much to handle, and then you can be at the top and at the height of highs as you’re working on a project.”

So, Blakely pivoted to casting, or “working on the other side of the desk,” in his words, and managed to stay afloat through the low tide of the pandemic.

In 2022, “Blonde” was finally released and Blakely found himself watching it alongside his parents. “Seeing myself on Netflix was such a strange experience … it ignited something in me again,” he recalled.

“I had given up on dance … It takes a lot to be passionate about it … it takes a different amount for everyone,” he said. “That moment of pause really gave me the time to sit with my feelings about the industry and ask, ‘What am I missing my life right now?’”

Not long after, one of his best friends moved to Paris to realize her dream of dancing in Moulin Rouge.

“I didn’t just say goodbye to her,” he said, “but to my passion and I knew it was time to dig down deep.”

At his friend’s going-away party, two other friends — previous Rams cheerleaders — approached Blakely about the upcoming Rams audition.

“Everything is very serendipitous,” Blakely said, looking back. “The opportunity I have with the Rams to seek further professional engagement but also to add more passion into my life again I am beyond grateful for and can’t wait for the season to begin fully.”

The Rams sign dancers on a one-year contract. If he wants to continue after that, he will try out again for next season. “There are always going to be feelings of being less secure when pursuing things like this,” he acknowledged.

For now, he said he is “having a blast” with the organization and is “ready to be surprised” by what the season brings. He said that the Rams “don’t do any of the typical cheerleading stunts” and are more known as a dance team, even participating in choreographed routines in pregame shows.

Blakely also has enjoyed the emphasis the Rams organization places on community outreach, especially amongst the youth of LA.

“I have lived in LA since 2017 … the sense of community in this town, in this larger city, reminds me so much of Pendleton. We all come together for sports, we all get together for the rodeo, we all live and breathe the same town,” Blakely reflected.

“I just want to say thank you to the (Pendleton) community,” he said. “Every time we go back, we drive through it, say hi to friends and eat at Mazatlan. Even though time has taken me out of Pendleton, my heart definitely stays there — I was born and raised there. The world was so much bigger, and I can’t thank that town and those people enough at times for teaching me the simplest things, like how to be a human and how to love, be loved and pursue whatever I want to in life.”

“I have lived in LA since 2017 … the sense of community in this town, in this larger city, reminds me so much of Pendleton. We all come together for sports, we all get together for the rodeo, we all live and breathe the same town.”

— Parker Blakely, 2013 Pendleton High School graduate and LA Rams cheerleader