Fredrick James Carter (born February 14, 1945), nicknamed "Mad Dog" or "Doggy", is an American former professional basketball player and coach, who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for eight seasons (1969–77) for the Baltimore Bullets, Philadelphia 76ers, and Milwaukee Bucks. After Carter's playing career ended, he coached the Mount St. Mary's women's basketball team for three seasons to a 60–32 record and three years of AIAW tournament play. He later became an assistant coach in the NBA for the Atlanta Hawks, Chicago Bulls, Washington Bullets and Philadelphia 76ers, and head coach of the 76ers. He was the first black assistant and head coach in 76ers' history.
Carter played four years of varsity basketball at Mount St. Mary's College in Emmitsburg, Maryland, where he was a three-time first-team All-Mason-Dixon Conference selection, and a member of the 1967 Mason-Dixon Conference championship team. After finishing his NBA career as a player and coach, Carter became a basketball analyst for ESPN and NBA TV, where he was sometimes referred to as "the best player on the worst team in NBA history".
Early life Carter was born on February 14, 1945, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, one of four children. His father was a junk dealer and his mother a domestic worker. He attended Benjamin Franklin High School, where he played on the basketball team. He was All-Public League in Philadelphia in 1963, playing center, averaging 17 points per game. He had decided to drop out and join the Army, but there was no one there to swear him in when he went to the recruitment center. Instead, he went with a girlfriend to visit Cheyney University for her freshman orientation. After visiting the campus, he realized he could compete in college and decided to finish high school. It has also been reported that he left high school before graduating and began working, but obtained the credits necessary to obtain a high school degree, and that he finished his high school degree at Temple Prep.
College Carter was recruited by fellow Philadelphian, and College Basketball Hall of Fame coach, Jim Phelan of Mount St. Mary's College (the "Mount") (now Mount St. Mary's University) in Emmitsburg, Maryland. In one report, Phelan was scouting a Philadelphia high school all-star game in which Carter participated and was named most valuable player. Phelan decided to recruit Carter for the Mount. It is also reported that Phelan was scouting John Baum at the Philadelphia playgrounds when he first saw Carter and began recruiting Carter at that time. Carter later applied and was accepted to Mount St. Mary's in 1965, but had a concern. The school had only integrated in the early 1960s. While driving with Phelan to the rural campus to begin school, Carter asked Phelan how many black students attended the Mount. Phelan told Carter to look in the car's rearview mirror, telling Carter he was going to be the Mount's only black student at that time.
In fact, the school did not pose a serious problem for Carter. Fans at basketball games would chant "In Fred We Trust", and Phelan and his wife Dottie became Carter's surrogate parents on campus. But Carter faced obstacles when going to play teams in the Southern United States. Among other things, during a tournament at Randoph-Macon College in Ashland, Virginia, he was punched twice while retrieving his warmup clothes at halftime. At Hampden-Sydney College, also in Virginia, he was called "every name in the book". On another trip, a restaurant refused Carter service, and the whole team walked out with him.
In the 1965–66 season, as a freshman, Carter had a 23.7 points per game average on a 21–6 Mount St. Mary's team; the highest scoring average for any college player in Maryland. The Mount was runner up in the Mason-Dixon Conference tournament that season. His 637 points that season set a school freshman scoring record.
Mount St. Mary's won the Mason-Dixon Conference title in 1967, and competed in the NCAA College Division men's basketball tournament. Carter averaged 20.3 points per game for the Mount in 1966–67, heading into the tournament. Mount St. Mary's lost to the University of Akron in their opening tournament game, with Carter scoring 16 points; and then lost the consolation game to Baldwin-Wallace, with Carter scoring 18 points.
Despite injuries, Carter averaged 21.4 points per game as a junior (1967–68). He was elected a team co-captain his senior year (1968–69). Carter was first-team All-Mason-Dixon Conference three consecutive seasons (1965 to 1968). The team's record during Carter's tenure was 81–27. During his college career, Carter scored 1,840 points, averaging 21.9 points and 11 rebounds a game. He was injured during part of his senior year after being poked in the eye, and also reportedly suffering an ankle injury.
Professional career Baltimore Bullets A 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) guard, Carter was selected by the Baltimore Bullets in the third round of the 1969 NBA draft, 43rd overall. Carter was also drafted by the Dallas Chaparrals in the 1969 American Basketball Association draft, but chose to play for the Bullets. Bullet teammate, and fellow Philadelphian, Ray Scott gave Carter the nickname "Mad Dog" after Carter once bit Scott during a one-on-one practice drill. He was also called "Doggy" by his teammates. Carter played on Bullets teams that included future Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame players Gus Johnson, Earl Monroe, and Wes Unseld, as well as players like Jack Marin, Kevin Loughery, and Scott. They taught Carter what was needed to be a successful NBA player. While he was a reserve guard during his two regular seasons in Baltimore, his level of play rose during the NBA playoffs each season.
As a rookie (1969–70), Carter averaged 16 minutes per game during the season; lowest among the team's rotational guards. During the regular season, he averaged 5.2 points, 1.6 assists, and 2.5 rebounds per game. Carter's role changed during the 1970 Eastern Division playoff series against the New York Knicks, who would go on to win the NBA championship that season. The Bullets took the Knicks to seven games before losing the series, and Carter became a starting guard alongside Earl Monroe. Carter averaged 36.1 minutes, 14.1 points, 3.4 assists and 4.4 rebounds per game against the Knicks. Bullets' coach Gene Shue started Carter in the series because of injuries to guards Kevin Loughery and Eddie Miles. (Miles played sparingly in the series, but Loughery averaged nearly 22 minutes per game despite having suffered four broken ribs and a punctured lung in late February.)
Carter played 49 minutes and scored 21 points in a Game 1 double-overtime loss to the Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Carter had the defensive assignment of guarding future Hall of Fame Knicks' guard Walt Frazier, taking pressure off of Monroe in not having to defend Frazier. Frazier said after the game it was "'one of the guttiest games I've been in'". The Associated Press said "the vibrant play of ice-cool rookie Fred Carter" and Monroe's shooting were the key factors keeping the Bullets in the game, and that Carter was "a defensive marvel". After losing the first two games, Carter scored 23 points, with six rebounds and three assists in the Bullets' Game 3 win, and "hounded Frazier" on defense.
Knicks' Hall of Fame head coach Red Holzman wrote in his basketball memoir, My Unforgettable Season 1970, that "Carter was the surprise and did a lot of damage with his playing time" in that series. He called Carter the Bullets' "not-so-secret weapon". Holzman described Carter's block of a Dick Barnett layup attempt after chasing Barnett down the court late in Game 1: "I don't know how many yards [Carter] spotted Barnett but he nailed him just in time. An amazing play". Coach Shue said of Carter's performance in the series, "'Fred is playing like the most valuable player in the league for us. He's giving us everything. Tremendous defense on Frazier. He's playing him everywhere'".
The next season (1970–71), Carter's playing time increased to 22.2 minutes per game. He averaged 10.4 points, 2.1 assists, and 3.3 rebounds per game. The Bullets defeated the Philadelphia 76ers in seven games in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Carter averaged 25 minutes, 12.1 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 1.4 assists per game in that series. He played 31 minutes and scored 18 points in the decisive Game 7 win, 128–120. Carter made shots when Monroe was double-teamed by the 76ers and passed to Carter, and played tough defense on Hal Greer who scored only 12 points and fouled out of the game.
The Bullets then played the Knicks in the Eastern Conference finals, winning in seven games. Carter once again started alongside Monroe. He averaged 40.3 minutes, 16.7 points, 6.4 rebounds, and two assists per game against the Knicks. The Knicks won the series' first two games, as in 1970, and the Bullets won Game 3, 114–88; Carter having 20 points and seven rebounds. He had 23 points, six rebounds and four assists in the Bullets' Game 4 win. He had 18 points and seven rebounds in a Game 5 loss, and eight points, six assists and four rebounds in a Game 6 win.
Game 7 was again played in Madison Square Garden, but this season the Bullets won, 93–91. Although it was only a conference series, Carter later said "That was our championship". Carter played 38 minutes, with a double-double (14 points and 10 rebounds) to go along with two assists. Carter also played tight defense on Walt Frazier throughout Game 7, limiting Frazier to 13 points and four assists. With 68 seconds remaining and the Bullets up by two points, Carter hit a 20-foot jump shot that secured victory for the Bullets. The Bullets were so desperate to defeat New York, who had knocked them out of the playoffs the last two years, that during a timeout with one minute left in the game coach Gene Shue looked heavenward and prayed, "'Please, let us win this one'".
Carter's game-clinching shot in Game 7 made him a hero in Baltimore. He kept a tape recording of Bullets' sportscaster Jim Karvellas's calling Carter's shot during the game, and would listen to it over the years. During the game itself, it was difficult for Carter to focus early in the game because he was concerned over his baby daughter who had a 105 degree temperature back in Baltimore; but Monroe helped his roommate Carter settle down, and Carter improved his offense in the second half of the game.
The Bullets lost in four consecutive games to the Milwaukee Bucks in the 1971 NBA Finals, which began two days after their exhausting series against the Knicks. The Bucks, led by future Hall of Famers Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Oscar Robertson, and Bobby Dandridge reached the NBA finals after defeating the San Francisco Warriors in five games and then the Los Angeles Lakers in five games. The Bullets' future Hall of Fame forward Gus Johnson, the team's leading rebounder and third leading scorer during the season (17.1 rebounds and 18.2 points per game), had only played a total of 43 minutes in two games during the Knicks series; and then only after receiving pain-killing injections in his knees. Johnson played only 57 minutes in two games against the Bucks, missing the series' first game altogether because of his injured knees.
Carter played in all four games, averaging 35.8 minutes, 15.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and three assists per game. He was the Bullets leading scorer in Game 4, with 28 points. Early in the series Carter made a boastful comment to the Bucks' Oscar Robertson after blocking Robertson's shot, and in Game 4 Robertson played with extra intensity and focus against Carter for Carter's transgression, scoring 30 points in the Bucks' 118–106 victory.