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Texas Rangers Winter Caravan stops at Buckner afterschool center in Amarillo

By Chelsea Quackenbush

AMARILLO, Texas – Members of the Texas Rangers baseball team stopped at the Bruce Ford Community Center in Amarillo Jan. 30 as a part of their 2013 Winter Caravan tour around the state. They talked to kids about the importance of doing well in school and their experience playing for the Rangers.

Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux; first baseman Mitch Moreland; pitcher Matt Harrison and long-time Rangers broadcaster Eric Nadel talked to about 45 kids, all of whom are enrolled in the afterschool enrichment program. The players also signed autographs and posed for photos.

“I had a baseball scholarship but a couple other scholarships, academic stuff, to help me out as well,” Moreland said. “I just had to keep my grades up and keep my head in the right place. I had to work hard in school, just like I worked on the field. I felt like the work I put in on the baseball field is what got me to college on a baseball scholarship. But you also have to have the grades to get into college. You work hard, keep your grades up and do well in school, and you can take care of a lot of things that way.”

“We are so grateful for the Texas Rangers and their willingness to come talk to our kids,” said Terry Thomas, director of Buckner programs in Amarillo. “To have such well-known role models tell the kids how important it is to do well in school, and to see where that can get them in life, will pay dividends in the future. The kids were so excited that they got to visit with the Rangers.”

To learn more about Buckner programs in Amarillo, click here.

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