GREENSBORO, N.C. – Guilford College alumnus M.L. Carr ’73 was selected for induction into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame Wednesday. Carr joins journalist Wilt Browning, football standout Wray Carlton, longtime N.C. State University baseball coach Sam Esposito, football official Dr. Jerry McGee, champion water skier Kristi Overton Johnson, former UNC Chapel Hill basketball star Lennie Rosenbluth and football coaching legend Henry Trevathan.
Carr joins Dave Odom ‘65, Rick Ferrell ’28, Tom Zachary ’18 and Bob Jamieson ’33 as Guilford alumni among the Hall’s 281 members. Others honorees with Guilford ties include former coaches Jack Jensen and Jerry Steele, as well as former athletic director Marion Kirby.
Carr played on two world-champion Boston Celtics teams and was a mainstay on Guilford College’s 1973 NAIA national championship basketball squad. The Wallace, N.C., native scored 1,993 points at Guilford despite playing in only 13 games as a junior. Carr was a freshman when the Quakers placed fourth in the 1970 NAIA Tournament and as a senior led Jensen’s team to a 29-5 record that included a win over the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore in the 1973 NAIA title game. The 6-6 forward averaged 18.4 points and 12.5 rebounds per game as a senior and was named an NAIA First Team All-American. Guilford went 101-25 in his four seasons and his number 30 was officially retired in 2009.
After graduating Guilford with academic honors and a history degree, Carr was drafted by both the Kansas City Kings (NBA) and the Kentucky Colonels (ABA). He spent his first two professional seasons playing in basketball’s minor leagues and Israel before joining the ABA’s St. Louis Spirits in 1975. When the ABA folded, he was drafted by the Detroit Pistons and spent three seasons there before signing with the Celtics in 1979. He led the league in steals and was a Second Team All-NBA Defensive Team selection in 1979. Carr played on the Celtics’ 1981 and 1984 championship teams and retired in 1985. He spent 21 years with Boston’s organization, serving as head coach, executive vice president and director of basketball of operations in his tenure.
Also a member of the NAIA Hall of Fame and the Guilford College Athletics Hall of Fame, Carr is president and chief operating officer of The Dream Company, LLC, an insurance marketing company in Huntsville, Ala. He remains an active part of Guilford’s community, having served on its Board of Trustees and as tri-chair of the school’s successful Our Time in History capital campaign that netted over $56 million.
The 49th annual North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame induction banquet will be held May 10 in the main ballroom of the North Raleigh Hilton. Banquet ticket information is available at www.ncsportshalloffame.org or by calling (919) 845-3455.
The North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame was established in 1962. The permanent exhibit is on the third floor of the North Carolina Museum of History on Jones Street in downtown Raleigh. The exhibit features significant artifacts donated by inductees. The free museum is open Monday through Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m.