MIAMI – We all know and love meteorologist Julie Durda each and every morning on the Local 10 News. But before she stood in front of the green screen, gold was Julie’s color.
That’s right, our own Julie was born and raised in northern California, and there was no doubt for which team she would be cheering.
“You can either be a Raider or you were a Niner fan,” Julie recalls about growing up in Orangevale. “My family, born and raised Niners. Die hard.”
"My parents, my grandparents, their grandparents. You get the gist.”
Every week during the season, Julie’s dad would take her and her brother to watch the Niners practice, and after taking a pic with the Jerry Rice following one workout, a dream was born.
“After practice I said I want to be a 49ers cheerleader,” Julie said.
But she was only 8. The second problem came 10 years later when she was allowed to finally try out.
“I walk into a high school gym full of hundreds of beautiful women,” Julie remembers. “And boy, did I want to turn around and walk out, because I said to myself, ‘What am I doing here?’”
Julie needn’t have worried, because this Gold Rush fairy tale came true.
“The moment she called, I said, ‘You’re kidding me, right?’” Julie said about the day she learned she made the team.
Now our girl Durda was just being modest, because for the next two years in the early 2000s, she kicked major pom-pom on the 49ers sidelines.
“It was something that I never thought that I could ever strive to do, let alone have the courage to do,” Julie said. “And I did it.”
After two years, Julie went on to shine on a different stage, but her Niners roots still live on here in Dolphins country.
“My son loves the Niners, but yet my husband likes the Jets,” Julie said. “So, I don’t know, maybe we shouldn’t show any of this because maybe the Dolphins fans will be really mad at me for both reasons!”
Durda’s got nothing to worry about. We love her no matter that she bleeds red and gold instead of aqua and orange. She still shines just as bright now as she did back then when she lived the experience of a lifetime.
“I was able to go to Osaka, Japan. I was able to go to Hawaii several times. I was able to be a part of covers and magazines and calendars,” Julie said.
“I’m Julie Durda, I’m from Orangevale, California!" Julie continued. “This is like a cowtown I was born in and raised in. This typically doesn’t happen. So it was really one of the opportunities that gave me the stepping stone to where I am now.”