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They kept saying, 'we will let you in, you can't leave.'" But once they let you in, you become a Montanan.
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Pride has generally spoken with fondness of the near-decade he spent there. In a 1967 interview with the Helena Independent Record, his wife Rozene Pride commented that the family encountered minor racism in Montana, citing an incident where they were refused service in a restaurant and another time when a realtor refused to show them a home, but she felt that the family endured less racism than she saw leveled against local Native American people, whose treatment she compared to that given to black people in the South. The family ultimately left Montana and moved to Texas in 1969. The Pride family moved to Great Falls, Montana, in 1967, because Pride's music career was taking off and he required quicker access to an airport.
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He moved his wife and son to join him and they lived in Helena until 1967, purchasing their first home there, and with their children Dion and Angela being born at the local hospital. Philipsburg." īetween his smelter job and his music, he made a good living in the Helena area. In a 2014 interview, Pride explained, "I would work at the smelter, work the swing shift and then play music," said Pride. He routinely unloaded coal from railroad cars, shoveling it into a 2,400 ☏ furnace while keeping clear of slag, a task which frequently gave him burns. His job at the smelter was dangerous and difficult he once broke his ankle. He also played gigs in the local area, both solo and with a band called the Night Hawks, and Asarco asked him to sing at company picnics. Pride's singing ability soon came to the attention of the team manager, who also paid him to sing for 15 minutes before each game, which increased attendance and earned Pride another $10 on top of the $10 he earned for each game. The lead smelter kept 18 jobs open specifically for baseball players, and arranged their shifts so they could play as a team. He was recruited to pitch for the local semipro baseball team, the East Helena Smelterites, and the team manager helped him get a job at the local Asarco lead smelter. When he was laid off by the Timberjacks, he moved to work construction in Helena, Montana, in 1960. Pride played three games for the Missoula Timberjacks of the Pioneer League (a farm club of the Cincinnati Reds) in 1960, and had tryouts with the California Angels (1961) and the New York Mets (1962) organizations, but was not picked up by either team. He tried to return to baseball, though hindered by an injury to his throwing arm. When discharged in 1958, he rejoined the Memphis Red Sox. That team won the "All Army" sports championship. After basic training, he was stationed at Fort Carson, Colorado, where he was a quartermaster and played on the Fort's baseball team. Pride pitched for several other minor league teams, his hopes of making it to the big leagues still alive, but was drafted into the United States Army in 1956. "Jesse and I may have the distinction of being the only players in history to be traded for a used motor vehicle," Pride mused in his 1994 autobiography. Later that season, while in the Negro leagues with the Louisville Clippers, two players – Pride and Jesse Mitchell – were traded to the Birmingham Black Barons for a team bus. During that season, an injury caused him to lose the "mustard" on his fastball, and he was sent to the Yankees' Class D team in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. In 1953, he signed a contract with the Boise Yankees, the Class C farm team of the New York Yankees. In 1952, he pitched for the Memphis Red Sox of the Negro American League.
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Though he loved music, one of Pride's lifelong dreams was to become a professional baseball player. When Pride was 14, his mother purchased him his first guitar and he taught himself to play.