In 1957, the North Mecklenburg Optimist Club, a civic group of men in Charlotte dedicated to supporting youth activities, was looking for a good youth work project. It turned to the idea of the establishment of a local Pop Warner youth football program.

 Every year since 1957, Pop Warner football and cheerleading has been alive and well in Mecklenburg County.  In the mid 1990s, the North Mecklenburg Optimist Club changed its name to the Mecklenburg Optimist Club in order to more properly reflect the broad scope of its membership and service projects.  The club has continued to sponsor the program with the volunteer efforts of its members, who give their  time to the administration of the program, and raise money to help defray administrative costs...

Since the beginning, the Optimist Club has sponsored the Optimist Bowl, the culmination of the season and the setting for determining the City-County Champions in the upper age and weight divisions.  It has been played at high school stadiums and at the downtown  Memorial Stadium. The tradition of the Optimist Bowl is difficult to match in national Pop Warner history.  Few programs have anything close to the 50 consecutive years of the Optimist Bowl.

In the early 1990s, with the influx of other fall sports and the financial pressures placed on organizations to outfit their teams, the number of teams participating in the league declined to as low as 23 teams.  At the same time, other football leagues began to spring up for various reasons, including the desire to avoid the weight restrictions of Pop Warner and the desire to avoid the administrative oversight, which takes place to ensure rule compliance.  However, the Optimist Club and representatives of the participating organizations would not let the program die, but instead took a number of steps to improve the program and get the word out to the public about the many positive aspects of Pop Warner football and cheerleading.

Changes were made in the way the program was administered.  Organizations became more involved in decisions about rules.  Certification of players took place at the locations of the organizations so the children would not have to travel far or stay up late for weigh-ins. Expansion occurred. The league adopted more player friendly must play rules.  Regional and National competition was added.  A deal was struck with the Carolina Panthers and Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation to create the Sir Purr Bowl, and the play in a game known as the Ray Bowl to give a local team a chance to scrimmage at   halftime of a Carolina Panthers’ game at Bank of America  Stadium.

Since 1994, the program has made a tremendous turn around and is now the largest Pop Warner league in the Mid-South region, and the fastest growing of all Pop Warner leagues.  With the arrival of the Carolina Panthers, the Mecklenburg Optimist Club (with the backing of Pop Warner National) went to NFL Properties and sought permission to use the Panthers name.  NFL Properties approved this request, and the name of the league was changed to the Pop Warner Little Panthers.  Since1994, the number of teams in Mecklenburg County has grown from 23 teams to over 140 teams for the 2006 season.

 For the last eight years, the Pop Warner Little Panthers league has been entering teams in the regional and  national competitions of Pop Warner Football.  The league has had great success, with regional champions, and several national champions since 1995.

It has always been the goal of the Mecklenburg Optimist Club to have a program which complies with the rules of National Pop Warner Football, and which provides a level playing field for children wanting to participate in contact football. We continue to believe that the age and weight schematic is the cornerstone of making football safe to play at a young age.  Just as important, it has always been the goal of this program that the children who participate have a great experience.