Donald James Carter was a right-handed American professional bowler. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, he learned the game while working a childhood job as a pinsetter, and went on to become one of the legends of ten-pin bowling and a founding member of the Professional Bowlers Association in 1958. He was six-time bowler of the year, a 10-time All-American, and became known simply as "Mr. Bowling." He was voted the Greatest Bowler of All-Time in a 1970 Bowling Magazine poll, and ranked #1 among 20th Century bowlers by Bowlers Journal in 1999. At the vanguard of celebrity endorsement, he capitalized on his fame during televised bowling's most popular period to become the first athlete of any kind to earn $1,000,000 in a single endorsement deal, for Ebonite International.
Bowling career
Prior to the PBA being formed, Carter was known as a dominant bowler in major tournaments of the 1950s, as well as in team play. In the nine BPAA All-Star tournaments between 1952 and 1960, Carter won four times and never finished lower than fourth. He won five World Invitational events in a six-year span, finishing second the only year he did not win. He also won one ABC Masters title in 1961. As a team bowler, Carter helped the Pfeiffer Beer team of Detroit, Michigan, win the 1953 ABC Open Championships before he moved back to St. Louis. Carter was then part of the "Budweisers" Bowling Team that won the National Team Match Games title four times in five years. On March 12, 1958 this team established an ABC league series record for a five-man team that stood for more than 35 years. Carter rolled games of 266, 253 and 235 in that session for a 754 series. Ray Bluth, Dick Weber, Tom Hennessey, and Pat Patterson were also on that 1958 team. Unlike most bowlers who keep their arm straight on the backswing as they are about to release the ball, Carter kept his elbow bent, never straightening his arm. Although the PBA was not formed until Carter was 32 years old, he still won seven PBA titles including the inaugural PBA National Championship in. He won four titles and $49,000 in prize money in alone. That year, he also made 18 top-five finishes, including seven straight top-five finishes, and he was named the Bowling Writers Association of America's Bowler of the Year. In 1964, he signed a $1,000,000 multi-year deal to endorse Ebonite bowling products, at the time the highest single deal of its kind. He was the PBA's first president, and served four years overall in that capacity. A bad knee forced him to retire from competitive bowling in 1972.
Personal life
Carter enlisted in the United States Navy in 1944, and spent two years as a radarman in the South Pacific. He was a baseball player in high school, and played AAU baseball with the likes of Yogi Berra and Joe Garagiola. He signed a minor-league contract with the Philadelphia Athletics in the fall of 1946. After one minor league season, he hung up his baseball spikes and returned to St. Louis to take a job at Golden Eagle Lanes. Working as an alley man, bartender and janitor, he bowled as often as he could during his time off. In 1951 he was invited to bowl for the Pfeiffer Beer team in Detroit, where his bowling career reached high momentum. Carter married professional bowler LaVerne Haverly in 1953. The two divorced in 1964. His second marriage, to Pat Hardwick in 1966, ended in a 1972 divorce. In 1973 Carter married professional bowler Paula Sperber, who had won the 1971 U.S. Women's Open and had an outstanding pro bowling career. Carter's first and third wives, Haverly and Sperber, are both in the WIBC Hall of Fame. Don remained married to Paula until his death in 2012. The PBA recently held a mixed doubles tournament called the Don and Paula Carter Mixed Doubles Championship. Beginning in 1978, Carter appeared in selected TV commercials for Miller Lite beer, which had begun using athletes and celebrities in its ad campaigns a few years prior. Carter died on January 5, 2012, from complications of both emphysema and pneumonia. He was 85. His first wife LaVerne would die only two months later.
Milestones and recognition
Established a 234 league average in 1959, the highest that season in a sanctioned American Bowling Congress league
