Fort Mill HS baseball player wins HBCU scholarship honoring Negro Leagues

FORT MILL, S.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) – Fort Mill High School senior Thomas Ealey is the first recipient of the Eddie “G.G.” Burton Scholarship.

Ealey, and one other soon-to-be-announced athlete, will receive $1,000 courtesy of the Charlotte Knights to continue playing baseball or softball at a historically black college or university.

The Knights’ organization sponsors the scholarship in the name of the Burton, a former Negro League player and longtime Charlotte resident. The Triple-A team’s representatives surprised Ealey at practice Thursday afternoon.

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“I’m feeling really excited. Really overjoyed,” Ealey said. “Caught me off guard a little bit, I wasn’t ready for this.”

It wasn’t only his confidence at the plate, or hard work in the classroom that earned him the scholarship. It was his passion for the game that stood out to the scholarship’s founders. Ealey is committed to play for Virginia State University next year.

Part of the application requires players to write about the lessons they personally take away from the Negro Leagues.

“During the summer, the Carolina Metro Reds took me down to the Jackie Robinson training complex for the MLB Breakthrough Series, and I learned a lot there,” Ealey said. “There was information about Jackie Robinson and the Negro Leagues and that gave me insight.”

Burton played for the Harrisburg Giants. He was 16 years old when he joined the team. He and his wife, Gaile, helped the Knights establish their Negro Leagues Night celebration after living in Charlotte for years.

“He was really into bettering the community,” said Gaile Dry-Burton. “He had passion for making sure our kids were treated right and making sure they had opportunities.”

Eddie passed away in 2018. Gaile started the scholarship in his name, not only to keep her husband’s memory alive, but the protect the entire legacy of the Negro Leagues.

“I’m very, very excited to see what this one thing can do to help our community,” she said. “It’s all about our future. And if we don’t invest into our future now we’re in trouble.”

Ealey’s parents said they’re incredibly proud of their son. They said they’re honored others also saw his character through his application and felt he was a perfect candidate for the scholarship.

“I just think baseball has taught him so much about teamwork, perseverance,” said his mom, Katherine. “Sometimes he was the smallest kid on the team, but he worked extra hard to play as well as everyone else. I think there’s just a lot of skills he learned from the team and being a part of baseball and we’re so glad he had the opportunity to do that.”

Ealey and the other recipient of the scholarship will be honored at the Knights game on April 6.

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