Walt Carter is the 2012 recipient of the Charlie Bloodworth Lifetime Achievement Award, and there could not be a better or more deserving recipient. Carter just wrapped up his 61st year of officiating this past season, and before Carter tips off his 62nd season in a few months, this award gives us a chance to pause and take a glimpse into what continues to be a magnificent career.
After talking with Carter about receiving the Charlie Bloodworth Lifetime Achievement Award, one can see how meaningful it is to him.
“To have this award when I am still officiating and doing what I love makes it really special,” said Carter.
Also adding sentiment to the Charlie Bloodworth Lifetime Achievement Award this year is the friendship Carter had with Bloodworth over the years. When Carter first became a registered official in 1951, his career began with Bloodworth by his side.
“When I think about this award, it makes me extremely proud,” said Carter. “It makes me think of Charlie and what a great person and friend he was.”
The friendship between Bloodworth and Carter would benefit the two as they began their careers together.
Carter and Bloodworth were leaders and innovators to both officiating and the game itself. It would be hard to find anyone who has had more of an impact in shaping basketball in the state of Georgia than these two have had over the years.
THE FAB FIVE …
Bloodworth founded the Georgia College Officials Basketball Association in 1959, and Carter would work there for about 20 years. Carter and Bloodworth have also gotten praise on a national level for their successes.
Bloodworth was a past president and served as the commissioner for the International Association of Approved Basketball Officials (IAABO) for 21 years. Out of the organization’s 16,000-plus members, no more than five people are invited to the lifetime membership group annually. In April of 2003, Carter, Lou Filippetti, Archie Mellace, Dick MacKenzie and Gene Schaaf, who were referred to as the IAABO’s fab five, joined Bloodworth as IAABO lifetime members and accepted their revered lifetime membership rings.
Carter has been a student of officiating since he was first registered and has always sought self-improvement and overall improvement of the game. His excellence as an official has given him the opportunity to officiate a total of 31 state tournaments over the years. Tournament officials are voted in by the coaches and the GHSA executive secretary, and 31 times gives Carter more than anyone else in Georgia history.
Carter’s position within the GHSA is remarkable as well. Carter has worked with the Georgia High School Association (GHSA) for every executive secretary since Sam Burke became the organization’s first. The time and energy that Carter has devoted to his profession over the years is immeasurable. Despite all he has invested, Carter claims that officiating has returned his affluence. What Carter has meant for officiating, officiating has meant that and more to him.
The everyday lessons, hard work and integrity involved with officiating have been apparent in Carter’s career and have been invested into the Carter family.
“You can learn a lot about life from officiating,” Carter’s son Joe explains. “It teaches you to approach not just the game with integrity and it gives you a non-subjective view of things.”
Joe Carter is passing his own milestone this year with 30 years of officiating in the books, and Carter’s other son, Len, officiated for 25 years before a foot injury prevented him from continuing.
“He taught me everything,” Joe said about his dad. “If you wanted to referee you did it [Carter's] way. He is all about the integrity of the game, and always doing things for the good of the game.”
Joe explained in a recent interview why and how Carter continues to officiate after all he has accomplished over the years.
“It would be easy to walk away, but it’s part of who we are.”
When Carter and son remain busy each year during the season, officiating keeps them close.
“I love that we still both do it,” said the younger Carter. “It really helps us stay in contact and I get to talk to him three or four times a week during the season.”
Carter’s personality is his biggest strength. To go along with all of his leadership qualities, Carter has a sense of humor that he always brings to the job.
“If I told people how old I was they would be terrified to let me officiate,” Carter joked.
Joe told a story of a man who was at a high school basketball game that Carter was refereeing recently.
In disbelief the man went up to Carter after the game and said, “You refereed my games when I was in high school and I just retired after working for the government after 30 years, and you are still doing it.”
MEMORIES …
Out of the thousands of players and coaches that Carter officiated for over the past 61 seasons, he pointed out Dave Cowens, who played center for the Florida State Seminoles, as the best player he had seen while officiating.
“When I was an SEC official, FSU would use us for some games and there I officiated for Dave Cowens, who is the best I’ve ever been on the court with,” said Carter.
In 1973, Cowens would be named NBA MVP as well as the MVP of the NBA All-Star Game. Undersized for a center, Cowens scrapped ferociously on both sides of the court. He is one of only four players in the history of the NBA (Scottie Pippen, LeBron James and Kevin Garnett are the others) to lead his team in all five major statistical categories for an entire season: points, rebounds, assists, blocks and steals. While Cowens was a privilege to watch, his grit on the court did not make Carter’s or any official’s jobs easier. Right out of FSU in Cowens’ first NBA season, he would lead the NBA in personal fouls.
Carter has many great memories that have stuck with him over the years. Some of Carter’s most memorable moments come from his days officiating in Macon’s Old City Auditorium. Back when Georgia had a Class A, B and C of basketball, all of its tournaments were held here.
“That was just a really good time,” said Carter. “It sat 500, maybe 600 people, but every game would be completely filled with people who had been lining up outside the doors before the games.”
Carter also officiated Georgia’s first-ever televised high school basketball tournament that was in Macon.
It is great to see Carter receive such a meaningful award, one that he will carry with him during the rest of his career.
“He is well-deserving and if anyone is due for this it is him. He has put his heart and soul into it,” said Joe Carter.
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