From Len Dawson to Patrick Mahomes, this Chiefette dancer never stopped cheering for KC

Editor’s Note: This is a dispatch from our Red Kingdom Road Trip. We’re connecting with Chiefs fans across the country ahead of the Super Bowl — share your story with us using this form. Read more from our journey to Las Vegas for the Super Bowl here on KansasCity.com, in our newsletters, or on The Star’s Instagram.

When she was just 15-years-old and a sophomore at Shawnee Mission East, Caren Goldberg Movitz stepped onto the field to dance at a Kansas City Chiefs game for the first time. The year was 1968, and the field was at Municipal Stadium.

Movitz, now 70 and living in Las Vegas, the host of Super Bowl LVIII, was a member of the early Chiefettes, a precision dance group that performed before and sometimes during halftime at Chiefs games.

She danced for the Chiefs for three seasons, including the 1969 season when Kansas City won Super Bowl IV, the franchise’s first ever. (The Chiefettes weren’t actually at the big game, though. “They took all the cheerleaders, but ‘bye Chiefettes, we’re leaving you home,’” Movitz quipped.)

Founded by Shirley Marley, owner of Miller Marley School of Dance and Voice in Overland Park, the Chiefettes were different from the Chiefs’ cheerleaders. They performed Rockette-style jazz numbers, a new routine every game, and every time “had to be able to kick straight-knee up to your head, all the way.”

“If I tried it now, I’d kill myself,” she said, laughing.

Movitz auditioned for the team alongside a thousand other young girls from the Kansas City area, eventually landing a spot on the 85-person roster. Several dancers, including Movitz, were Marley’s students at her studio.

“Every team has their cheerleaders and they got their synchronized routines that they do. Whereas, I felt the Chiefettes were doing something different,” Movitz said.

“I don’t know of any other team that had dancers on the field. We were like a novelty.”

Movitz wasn’t a Chiefs fan before she started dancing at games. In fact, she “didn’t know the first thing about football,” she said.

Then as the games went by, she got an up-close look at the action on the field. She started hanging out with players, getting to know them past their positions.

“Lenny Dawson was a sweetheart,” Movitz recalled fondly. “He was the nicest person, and he had us all over to swim in his football-shaped pool.”

She danced as a Chiefette through her senior year of high school, before packing up and moving to San Diego to attend college. The week Movitz settled in, the Chiefs happened to be facing the then-San Diego Chargers. While grabbing a bite to eat at a local restaurant with her mom, she ran into some KC players at the bar.

“I walk in and they go ‘Caren, what are you doing here?’ I tell them I’m going to college and they were all excited for me,” Movitz remembers. “It was a last big hurrah.”

It wasn’t her last time supporting the Chiefs, though. From the first time she stepped foot on that field, she’s been a fan.

Through college in San Diego, Movitz watched nearly every game she could. After meeting her now-husband, she even convinced him to ditch his Los Angeles Rams gear to don the red and gold.

“We’ve been married for 45 years now, and the only exposure I’ve had to the Chiefs was my wife,” 82-year-old Marshall Movitz said.

“He doesn’t have a choice,” Caren smiled.

Now, she’s glued to the action every game. She’ll text back and forth with her “BFF” since kindergarten, Cyndi, who still lives in Kansas City.

“From the first snap to the very end, you always knew when football was on because you could always hear a rumble,” Marshall said with a smile. “She’s always on the couch, by herself and doesn’t want anybody around her.”

The Chiefettes lasted about 20 years before disbanding. Today, Movitz will watch from her new home in Vegas as the Chiefs take on their fourth Super Bowl in five years, cheering just as hard as ever.

Thank you for joining our road trip

Five full days on the road and nine stops across five states later, our Red Kingdom Road Trip crew finally arrived in Las Vegas late Friday night.

The atmosphere in Sin City is palpable, and shades of red have covered the entire city.

The 49ers Faithful certainly showed up, so much so we thought they were going to vastly outnumber Chiefs Kingdom. But as we saw more of the strip and explored the NFL’s Super Bowl Experience, we’d say it’s a near 50-50 split of Chiefs to 49ers fans, with maybe a slight edge to San Francisco.

Our journalists will be bringing you all the action tonight, so make sure to check back at KansasCity.com for more.