by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
Some of the best college athletes in the country are on display this week on the field at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville. So why are so many cameras pointed at the stands?
The answers to that question were sitting in a pair of box seats Wednesday down the third base line. Just by sitting down, Florida State students Jenn Sterger and C.J. Perry created a bigger stir than any strikeout, double play or home run.
Sterger and Perry are dubbed “The Cowgirls” on the legion of Internet and magazine pages devoted to them. Sterger is probably the most famous co-ed in the country.
Sterger was discovered in the stands of Doak Campbell Stadium by an ABC television camera during a nationally-televised game against Miami last year. Sterger’s two-second appearance on screen prompted ABC play-by-play man Brent Musburger to declare “15,000 young red-blooded American men just signed up to go to Florida State.”
Florida State won that game, 10-7, but Sterger became the breakout star. Her image flooded the Internet, leading to photo spreads in Playboy and Maxim.
The criminal justice major was headed to law school. But the glare of the national spotlight has pushed aside those plans for now.
“I have a lot of opportunities open to me and I want to pursue them as far as I can,” said Sterger. “But law school will always be there. Regardless of what happens, I always want to add to my education.”
Perry said getting to know Sterger has been an education in itself. Perry is a recent addition to the Cowgirls. She met Sterger in January through Facebook.com.
“I knew who they were. I knew they were hot girls who loved the Seminoles and I thought I’d fit in perfectly,” she said.
Perry, a double major in dance and business, said she’s amazed by Sterger’s business sense. Parlaying two seconds of video into Internet fame can’t be learned in a classroom, she said.
After a four-month apprenticeship, Perry is ready to continue the Cowgirls tradition at Florida State. Sterger thinks the group will be in good hands and said she gets requests daily from co-eds wanting to step into her boots. But entry into the Cowgirls requires more than a pretty face, she said.
“There are so many pretty girls at Florida State that, if you want to stand out, you have to have something else,” said Sterger. “That’s what I saw in C.J. She has that character.”
The Cowgirls have become an integral part of Florida State athletics. It’s not really a big game unless they’re in the stands. And while watching games might have launched an unexpected career, Sterger said she’ll never think of it as work.
“It’s not an obligation, it’s something we enjoy doing,” said Sterger. “We love to watch the Seminoles.”
And fans across the country love to watch them watch.