Louis Edward Carter (February 6, 1953 – October 11, 2020) was an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who was a

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played for the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team based in Oakland, California, from its founding in 1960 to 1981, and again from 1995 to 2019 before Oakland Raiders relocation to Las Vegas, relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan ...

and the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (colloquially known as the Bucs) are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC S ...

. Born in

Laurel, Maryland Laurel is a city in Maryland, United States, located midway between Washington, D.C., and Baltimore on the banks of the Patuxent River, in northern Prince George's County. Its population was 30,060 at the 2020 census. Founded as a mill town i ...

, he was a third round pick of the Raiders in 1975 having been the MVP of the Coaches' All-American college all-star game in his senior year at Maryland. He came to the Bucs in the veteran allocation draft of 1976 and became a valuable member of the Buc offense during its first three seasons as a running back and occasional receiver out of the backfield. He also threw the first TD pass in franchise history when he was stopped at the line of scrimmage in a game against the Seahawks and then lobbed the ball across the line to receiver Morris Owens for an unlikely one-yard score. He carried the ball 11 times for 27 yards in his rookie season in Oakland and also had two receptions for 29 yards, but never played again in the NFL after leaving Tampa Bay. After retiring from pro football, Carter sold cars for Covington Buick in

Silver Spring, Maryland Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially Unincorporated area, unincorporated, it is an edge city with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 ...

. When the dealership closed, Carter joined the security team at

University of Maryland Global Campus The University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC) is a public university in College Park, Maryland, and the largest institution in the University System of Maryland. Established in 1947 as the College of Special and Continuation Studies of the U ...

, where he was a security coordinator.

Career stats

References

1953 births 2020 deaths American football running backs Maryland Terrapins football players Oakland Raiders players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Sportspeople from Laurel, Maryland Players of American football from Prince George's County, Maryland 20th-century American sportsmen {{runningback-1950s-stub