To honor Charley Pride and in the spirit of creating a more diverse and inclusive ball club, the Texas Rangers Baseball Foundation has created a 10-week paid internship program for junior and senior undergraduate students. The foundation partnered with the Roland Parrish Foundation in an effort to actively recruit the best and brightest from diverse backgrounds.
According to the Texas Rangers, “During their time with the Rangers, Charley Pride Fellows will be able to choose from three departments in which to work.”
The internship aims to show what it is like to be a professional while exposing young adults to the professional baseball industry, giving them a firsthand look at what front office executives go through daily.
Pride was a sharecropper’s son born on a cotton farm in Sledge, Mississippi, according to his biography on his website. He played professional baseball in the Negro leagues and then in semi-professional clubs and worked at the local smelter. He later turned to a different type of entertainment following his sporting career.
Charley Pride discovered Country music through his father’s love of Grand Ole Opry broadcasts.
Pride tried his hand at singing for the first time in 1958. The demo he recorded was a rendition of “The Stroll.” Charley Pride rose to prominence as the first black superstar in country music. He had 52 Top-10 Country hits between 1967 and 1987.
His performance at Belfast’s Ritz Cinema in 1976 brought the community together. Pride has released several new studio albums since 1990, the most recent of which was “Music in My Heart” in July 2017. Charley Pride died at the age of 86 in December of 2020 in Dallas from COVID-19 complications.
As for baseball, in 1956, Pride was a member of the Willie Mays All-Stars. He pitched a four-inning shutout for the negro-league all-stars.
Pride’s dream of being a part of Major League Baseball came true when he joined an ownership group that purchased the Texas Rangers Baseball Club in 2010. Due to his experiences in the Negro Leagues and the world of country music, Charley Pride valued racial diversity as a cause dear to his heart, the foundation says.
“This unique opportunity will place candidates in entry-level roles with the Rangers while providing them with valuable cross-disciplinary experience which will benefit them whether they choose to pursue a career in baseball or not,” the Texas Rangers said of the Charlie Pride Fellowship.
Interns who are selected will have the opportunity to work in one of the following departments with the Texas Rangers: Accounting/Finance, Ballpark Entertainment Promotions & Productions, Baseball Operations, Business Analytics, Business Partnerships Communications, Human Resources Marketing, REV Entertainment Ticket Operations, Ticket Sales, and Premium Services.
The deadline to apply is April 1, and the program starts on May 30. The Charley Pride Fellowship ends on August 5, 2022. For more details or to apply for an internship with the Texas Rangers, go to the website here.