Former Green Bay Packers linebacker Jim Carter dies at 75
Jim Carter, a no-nonsense, hard-driving linebacker for the Green Bay Packers' only division championship team of the 1970s, died of cancer on Thanksgiving at age 75.
Carter is the second prominent member of the 1972 team to die this year. Running back John Brockington died in March. The 1972 team finished 10-4 and was the only Packers team to win the division between Super Bowl II in 1968, which was Vince Lombardi's final game with the team, and the Mike Holmgren/Brett Favre era in 1995.
Carter played linebacker for the Packers from 1970 to 1978, after starring at fullback for the University of Minnesota. He was drafted in the third round of the 1970 NFL draft, the 68th player taken overall, and had the unenviable task of succeeding Pro Football Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, who was beloved by Packers fans.
"Once Carter took over for Nitschke, Packers fans booed him frequently and lustily thereafter. He was booed during player introductions and just about any time he missed a tackle or a pass was completed over the middle, according to newspaper accounts from that time," Packers historian Cliff Christl wrote about Carter.
Scott Hunter, quarterback of the 1972 team, was drafted the year after Carter and took a lot of guff from his teammate, until Hunter realized he was a year older and informed Carter he was done taking crap from him. After that, they were friends."He was the perfect middle linebacker for our ’72 team and defense … tough, smart, leader on the field, the locker room, and when we were having a cold one in De Pere during training camp or at Boot’s place on Broadway after practice," Hunter wrote in an email. "As we got older and reconnected at the Green Bay Packer Alumni Weekends, he dropped the Middle Linebacker ‘tough guy’ talk and told me how much our friendship meant to him and how he looked back on that ’72 Central Division Championship season as his very best pro football experience. A great guy and teammate."
Carter felt like he could have improved with better coaching. Until late in his career, he did not have a coach who'd ever played linebacker.
"I do wish, in hindsight, we'd had a better coaching staff," Carter said during a 2022 interview. "I was never a great player in Green Bay, and part of that was not having the groundwork from a decent coaching staff. I have no complaints. Life is good for me. I had a nice career."
The 6-foot-3, 240-pound Carter made the transition from college fullback to NFL linebacker well enough. He was named second-team all-NFC middle linebacker by United Press International in 1972, and in 1973 Carter was named to the Pro Bowl, the only Packers' linebacker so honored between Nitschke's only year, 1964, and when A.J. Hawk was named in 2010. He also was named the Packers' most valuable defensive player in 1973 and was defensive captain in 1973 and 1974.
"He was underappreciated, no doubt about it. But I think our whole team was underappreciated," said Mike McCoy, the Packers' first and NFL's second pick in the 1970 draft. "We were the new kids on the block (compared to the Lombardi-era players). We had a lot to overcome. The ghosts were all around us."
Carter was reluctant for a time to return to Green Bay for public events after his playing years because of the booing, but he spoke highly of his teammates and the Packers organization. Eventually, the booing ended.
One of Carter's trips back to Lambeau Field was for a gathering of players who played with and for Bart Starr. "I really loved it. We had a ball. I still feel very close to a lot of the guys there," he said.
Carter also returned in January, when he and Ken Ellis were featured alumni for the final game of the season against the Detroit Lions, and returned again in September for Alumni Weekend.
Carter was raised in South Saint Paul, Minnesota. He played hockey and football for the Golden Gophers and was a 2013 inductee into the university's M Club Hall of Fame.
He is not a member of the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame, although McCoy says he thinks he should be.
Because of his Minnesota roots, he was accustomed to playing in the winter conditions the Packers were used to in Green Bay. He didn't like it, but he was used to it. He did like playing in the rain and mud, and he really liked beating the Vikings, which the '72 Packers did in a key game to win the division.
"Being from Minnesota, I always wanted to beat the Vikings. I'm still that way," he said.
Carter was a businessman and spent time in Palm Springs and the Twin Cities in retirement.
As a young single guy, he wasn't afraid to enjoy himself, although it led to trouble eventually.
"I loved playing in Milwaukee. Back when I was single, in Green Bay we hit the streets pretty hard. When we got to go to Milwaukee, a few of us really loved that. It was a great sports town, a great restaurant town, and I really enjoyed that," he said.
Carter overcame a substance-abuse problem and during an interview with the Press-Gazette in 2022 was proud to point that out. "I spent a lot of time in recovery. I haven't had a drink in 40 years. And we had plenty when we drank in Green Bay and we never needed any more."
Carter said he'd given up trying to change his past, a philosophy learned in recovery. He said a lot of expressions such as that work for both football and recovery.
"Jim was a great guy. Easy going. Loveable. An encourager. Tough. Off the field, he was an entrepreneur," McCoy said. "I (was traded) to Oakland. I went to New York. Life goes on. I saw him at a couple reunions and we really (re)connected. He called me Huck 'n' Buck. He said, 'Huck 'n' Buck, I value your friendship.'"
Contact Richard Ryman at rryman@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @RichRymanPG, on Instagram at @rrymanPG or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RichardRymanPG/.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Packers' Jim Carter, who succeeded Ray Nitschke, dies of cancer
