Meet Charley: The Red Hawks’ Director of ‘Pawsitivity’ at Montclair State

🏀 The women's basketball team at Montclair State has a new member

🏀 Her name is Charley

🏀 She is the "Director of Pawsitivity"

MONTCLAIR — The women’s Red Hawks basketball team at Montclair State University has a new official team member.

Meet Charley Cunningham Jones, a 2-year-old female Golden Retriever who is the team’s new Director of Pawsitivity.

Charley is owned by Courtney Cunningham, assistant coach of the women’s basketball team at Montclair State, and her husband, David Jones.

The pup, who grew up in the university’s Panzer Athletic Center since she was 10 weeks old, has won the hearts of players, the coaching staff, spectators, and beyond, said Karin Harvey, head women’s basketball coach at Montclair State.

While Charley has been around the team for a couple of years, this is the first year she’s been given an official team title, complete with a team jersey, a special collar that says “Director of Pawsitivity” on it, and more, Harvey said.

It is believed that Charley is the first dog to hold such a prestigious position at a New Jersey college or university, Harvey said.

“Charley’s got a pretty good job. Her job is just to run around, get a lot of pets, a lot of treats, and make people smile. She does warmups with us in practice when she comes. She sprints with the team and does stretching with them,” Harvey said.

When practice starts, Charley hangs out on the sidelines, chews her bones, and every so often lets out a bark to energize the girls. It’s just a feel-good-thing to have Charley on the sidelines, “cheering on” the players, Harvey said.

Many of the players on the team have dogs, so they connect with Charley, and the Golden Retriever’s presence helps relax them.

Dogs are very intuitive. “She can also tell when someone is having a bad day. They cling to her a little bit more and she’ll sit with them. It’s just a way to bring a little joy and a little comfort from home and a little pawsitivity,” Harvey said.

When a player is feeling down, Charley definitely cheers them up just by her adorable presence, Harvey added. It’s hard to be sad when this sweet dog is around.

Charley’s comforting presence has even gone beyond the women’s basketball team at Montclair.

She has friends on the volleyball team. Charley has really taken a liking to the athletic training staff. She hangs out in the athletic training room so she sees all the football players, too.

One of Charley’s favorite snacks is ice cubes. There is an ice machine inside the athletic training room, and Harvey playfully warns that if you’re in there with Charley, you better give her some ice. But don’t worry. If you forget, Charley will remind you.

When athletes are doing rehab, and some of that rehab is hard work, Charley is right there with them, letting them pet her, and lifting their spirits.

“She’s always hard at work spreading some positive energy when she’s at Montclair,” Harvey said.

Charley’s first game attendance was this past fall. Harvey said she made her way over to the other team to say hello, which brought smiles to everyone’s faces. Since Charley is used to running around the court with the girls during practice, it was a bit of an adjustment for her to sit in the bleachers during the game, but she did it, Harvey said.

Charley is even helping with recruitment. Harvey said that she had met prospective students who were deciding between Montclair and another college school, but once they met Charley, their mind was made up to attend Montclair.

Charley is just a breath of fresh air. She gets very excited when she sees the girls in the locker room, and bummed when she doesn’t see them.

“There’s so much heaviness in the world. There are so many things that we have to be serious about and worried about. This is just a nice, fun thing that lightens up, and brightens, and brings joy to people,” Harvey said.

Besides being a source of comfort and “pawsitivity” for the girls, Charlie also loves belly rubs, ice cubes, swimming, hikes, collecting sticks, and playing with her friends.

Follow Charley on her Instagram page to learn more.

To find out more about the Red Hawks, scores, standings, game day and times, visit here.

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