Graham Foley has kept himself busy throughout his time at Temple University and he shows no signs of slowing down. The senior journalism student has branched out of his curriculum at Klein College of Media and Communication and is getting real-world experience in sports journalism. Since his freshman year, he has interned and worked for sports departments at Temple and around Philadelphia. Now, in addition to his responsibilities as a student and a freelancer, he has a coveted role with the Philadelphia Phillies as their first full-season social media department intern.

Foley has been a sports fan for as long as he can remember, with a special place in his heart for baseball. He played the sport the longest out of any of his other athletic endeavors, and his family holds season tickets to the Phillies. When he came to Temple, he knew he wanted to combine his love for sports with his love for writing and media. He started covering Temple sports as a reporter for The Temple News, and eventually ran the Temple Athletics social media pages for the men’s football team and men’s basketball team. He found that content creation allowed him an extra bit of creative freedom that he had not encountered using other media. 

Through networking and hard work, Foley earned several professional experiences with some of the city’s most notable sports and media companies. Often holding multiple positions at once, he has managed to balance his schoolwork with roles such as contributor for the City of Basketball Love website and a sports desk intern with the Philadelphia Inquirer, where he is the reporter for Temple men’s basketball.

“I’ve just felt so lucky because it’s been like everything I wanted, it’s just that...every internship has kind of built on each other,” he says.

John DiCarlo, managing director of student media at Klein and an adjunct instructor in the Department of Journalism, recognized Foley’s tenacity and talent early in his college career. Foley was working for The Temple News when DiCarlo asked him to intern for his Temple sports website, OwlScoop.com. Since then, Foley has taken DiCarlo’s classes and even used some of the connections he gained from working with DiCarlo for internship opportunities, most notably connecting with Philadelphia Eagles writer Dave Spadaro. As a result, Foley worked with the Eagles full-time in the latter half of 2018. Although he was on track to graduate early, he instead used that semester to learn just how much effort is involved in working with a major sports franchise. This preparation set him up for success.

“He is as ready as he can be for this business and he’s really good, he’s a truly gifted writer,” DiCarlo says. “When he was in my classes his work was a pleasure to grade.”

Foley wants to make writing a priority throughout his time with the Phillies. He is the youngest member of the team’s social media department, which will allow him to contribute fresh ideas to the Phillies’ public image. He hopes that he can even venture into blogging, which would allow him to showcase and strengthen his writing while bridging the gap between Phillies fans and the franchise. He is excited to dive deeper into the team-driven tasks while learning to mold his style of content creation.

“Being around a team that I love with a lot of people who seem like they care about me right off the bat, that’s been the most exciting part since I started,” Foley says. “Not to mention the fun and creative stuff I’ll be able to do with the different platforms and just some of the opportunities they seem like they’re going to give me.”

DiCarlo believes that Foley is a natural fit at the Phillies and is excited to see where his future career path will take him.

“[Foley] is one of those students who just got involved right away and he’s just one of those students who people like being around because he models the way for his peers and his fellow students,” DiCarlo says. “He does not have an egotistical bone in his body, he’s not pretentious and he just is glad to help other people out.”

Foley will graduate in May, but for now he is focused on making sure that he makes his work through his current positions with the Phillies, OwlScoop and the Inquirer count. He is looking forward to where his experiences will lead him.