Jackie McGee and Charlie Womble started dancing the Carolina Shag in 1980 and have competed and taught the dance since that time. Jackie McGee is a ten-time Overall National Shag Dance Champion, and her husband Charlie Womble is a nine-time Overall National Shag Dance Champion. In 1989 they introduced the Carolina Shag to the U.S. Open and started teaching Shag workshops across the country. They became the first Shag instructors to be endorsed by the SOS organization, and are still actively teaching locally and across the country.
Charlie and Jackie are the founders and directors of the USA Grand National Dance Championship (founded in January 1994, with the first event in May 1995.) They have served on the Competitive Shaggers Board of Directors; hosted local charity and fund raising dance competitions in Atlanta, GA and Myrtle Beach, SC; and created fourteen instructional videos, many of which are donated to fund raising events and charities.
They also created the first scholarship to assist Junior Shaggers in the Shag community. Charlie and Jackie became the first and only spokespersons for Anqet Natural Spring Water (a company that supports and sponsors a significant number of events for the Shag community.)
A trophy in their likeness, called the “Charlie and Jackie Trophy” was created by the National Shag Dance Championship to be presented to its “Overall Champions” in March of each year.
- 1981-1994 – Undefeated for 13 years on the Carolina Shag Competition Circuit
- 1990 – Inducted into the Shaggers Hall of Fame
-
1999 – Presented the “Shaggers of the Decade” (for the 1990’s) Award by “Fat Harold’s Beach Club” in North Myrtle Beach, SC
- 1988-1889 – Appeared on “Good Morning America” three times and once on the “Today Show”
- 1990-1995 – Captains of the National Shag Dance Team (for 5 years)
- 1991 – U.S. Open Team Champions
- 1994 – Feather Award – Most Outstanding Swing Dancers (female and male)
- 1995 – Feather Award – Most Outstanding Classic Swing Dancers (male and female)
- 1995 – Performed the Carolina Shag at Rockefeller Center in New York
- 1996 – Special Feather Award – “New Wave” (for introducing Carolina Shag to the Swing community)
- 1996 – U.S. Open Classic Champions
- 1996 – First recipients of the “Shad Alberty Award” for contributions to the Shag Community
- 1998 – Received the “Chairman’s Lifetime Achievement Award” from the Society of Stranders (SOS)
- 1999 – Participated in a documentary by Turner Broadcasting
- 1999 – Second recipients of the National Shag Dance “Promotion of the Shag” Award
- 2000 – Inducted into the National Living Legends
- 2000 – Performed at the Inaugural Ball
- 2003 – WSDC National Swing Dance Hall of Fame Inductees
