Cris Carter

1965-

American football player

When wide receiver Cris Carter, who played most of his career with the Minnesota Vikings, retired after 15 years of playing football, he ranked second all-time in the NFL with 1,096 receptions, 129 of them for touchdowns. Carter, who is an eight-time Pro Bowl athlete, came out of retirement in October of 2002 to join the Miami Dolphins.

Overcame Addiction and Excelled

Carter played his first football game when he was eight years old, in a peewee league in Middletown, Ohio. When his teammates made a feeble attempt at tackling a large opponent, Carter became furious and said he would beat up anyone on his team who didn't play as hard as he did. His older brother, Butch, had to drag him off the field, telling him that this was not how team sports should be played. However, as Jeffri Chadiha noted in Sports Illustrated, Carter "was born with talent and a mean streak." Later in life, Carter would tame the mean streak, while retaining the talent.

Carter played for Ohio State University and began his professional career when he was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in 1987. His first reception as a pro player was a 22-yard touchdown catch. At the time, however, he was battling addictions to alcohol and cocaine. Carter flunked three drug tests while with the Eagles, who waived him in 1990. He overcame the addictions, turned his life around, and spent the next 12 years playing for the Minnesota Vikings.

Carter, who until then had held a fairly lax notion of training in the off-season—playing pickup basketball and occasional running—started as a backup but was in

for a big change with the Vikings. Roger Craig, an allpro running back from the San Francisco 49ers, joined the team, and when Carter asked him how he had become such a good player, Craig told him it was because he took his off-season training seriously. Carter took the hint, and began spending the entire day training. He has continued this regimen throughout his career. "Work is all I know," he told Chadiha. "There are no tricks. Right now I don't even think about football. I just push my body to the limit. When football season comes around, then I put it all together."

The training paid off. While playing with the Vikings, Carter went to the Pro Bowl eight consecutive times from 1993 to 2000. He was known for his avoidance of major injury, playing a full 16 games for 13 seasons. Carter had back-to-back 122-catch seasons in 1994 and 1995 and caught over 90 passes three other times.

In 1996, Carter became an ordained minister; since then, he has frequently testified about his past troubles with addiction and the role of spirituality in helping him overcome them. Carter told Chadiha, "I tell people that when they see alcoholics or drug addicts on the streets, they should think about me…. NFL Man of the Year, family man, a man who loves God. Yes, those things are all part of the picture, but so are the other things. They're all part of how I got to where I am now."

In 1998, Carter was devastated when his best chance to play in the Super Bowl slipped away. The Vikings, who had had a stellar season, were beaten by the Atlanta Falcons in overtime in the NFC Championship game. In the locker room after the game, Carter wept, and was unconsoled by teammates who insisted the team would be back and would someday have another chance. But the team made changes in personnel during the off-season, and Carter believed he would not have another chance to win the Super Bowl with the Vikings.

In 1999, Carter was awarded the NFL's Man of the Year Award. In that year, he also became the second player in NFL history to catch 1,000 passes in a career. Only the great Jerry Rice caught more passes in his career than Carter.

Talent and Hard Work

Carter has a rigorous workout schedule that includes football drills, speed and strength training, and yoga. He is part-owner of FAST, a speed-agility, and strength fitness center, and works out there. He couples this discipline with natural talent: he has long hands, wears size XX gloves, and is known for his dexterity as a player. In an informal survey in the Sporting News, Carter was voted the player with the best hands in the NFL. Carter is able to catch a ball with his fingertips, with one hand while diving to the ground, and, according to Dennis Dillon in the Sporting News, "there is his trademark sideline catch, where he stretches like a human rubber band horizontally, his entire body out of bounds except for his tiptoeing feet, and gathers the ball seemingly with his fingernails."

Carter has always practiced difficult catches, trying new and ever more difficult ways to snag a ball. Ohio State University athletics communications director Steve Snapp told Dillon that Carter was the only player he ever knew whose catches during practice would elicit applause from his teammates. In warmups, Carter will run 50 yards down the field and try to catch a pass behind his back; if he succeeds, which he does 50 percent of the time, he believes he will have a good playing day.

Chronology

To Carter, catching is not just physical, but mental. He told Dillon that a catch is "seeing the point of the ball coming at you (spinning) like a cross, and it's almost in slow motion. And my head is staying on the ball the whole time. That's the perfect catch." Carter visualizes catches, imagining himself running and catching the ball from many different positions and angles.

In addition to his skill in catching, Carter is also known for evading defenders, knocking a defender's hands off him at the line of scrimmage, or grabbing a defender's jersey and pushing him away. According to Dillon, he is so good at these moves that "it's hard to tell he's doing anything illegal." Cardinals cornerback Aeneas Williams told Dillon, "He does it in such a way that it's part of his release pattern—all one motion."

Retires But Returns to Play

In spring of 2002, unable to find a contract to play with a team that suited him, Carter announced his retirement after 15 seasons with the NFL. Sad to leave the Vikings, he told Bob Sansevere of the Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service, "I never thought I'd come to this cold place [Minnesota] and feel sad I'm leaving."

Carter accepted an offer to work as an analyst on the HBO program "Inside the NFL." According to Alex Marvez of the Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service, Carter told reporters at an HBO media conference, "[My playing career] has been a tremendous ride, and that ride has come to an end. I wanted to play football, but I had to be in the right situation."

In October of 2002, Carter found the right situation. He came out of retirement to join the Miami Dolphins, whose performance had suffered after a series of wide receivers were injured; the team hoped he would improve their performance. Although he was hesitant to return to play, his friend and former Dolphins quarter-back Dan Marino helped convince him to sign a one-year contract. Marino worked with Carter on "Inside the NFL." In an article on Allsports.com, Carter said that Marino told him, "You just have to do it. You can still play." Carter admitted that he missed playing, and noted that HBO would still pay him even if he did sign with Miami.

Carter joined the team on October 21, and was paired with team members in practice so that he could learn the team's offense. Although some of his new teammates were initially upset because Carter was signed as a starter, not a backup, he got along well with them. In the Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service, player James McKnight Alex Marvez, "The camaraderie in this locker room is the best I've ever been around." Carter, who appreciated the help and advice that was given to him by veteran players when he began his career, was happy to tutor young players. "I just think you should help people out no matter what profession you are in," he explained to Marvez. "To me, it's a crime for athletes or anyone else that has a talent or a skill when they don't try to share some of that with other people."

Career Statistics

Awards and Accomplishments

Player Bernardo Harris of the Baltimore Ravens told Mike Berardino in the Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service, "Cris is coming in, and a lot of pressure is put on him because he's the veteran guy, he's the name guy. The expectations are going to be so high. If he doesn't do anything, it's a letdown. If he does anything, it's expected." And he added, "He came out of retirement to save the team."

Unfortunately, Carter's return was short-lived. On November 9, 2002, Carter was admitted to the hospital and diagnosed with a kidney abnormality and was out of play for the rest of the season. His future in football was in doubt at the end of the 2002 season.

Carter told Sansevere that given the successes of his career, he expected to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame someday. "I look forward to that day," he said. "It's going to happen. Whenever it happens, I'll be overwhelmed with emotions."

Where Is He Now?

In addition to his football career, Carter still provides game analysis for HBO's "Inside the NFL." He is also active in various charitable causes. Carter is the founder of the Carter-White Charitable Foundation to benefit underprivileged children, as well as the Viking Super Challenge, which challenges students to stay off drugs and remain in school. He also founded the Cris Carter Academic Honor Roll program, which rewards high school athletes who excel both in the classroom and on the playing field. Carter is a member of the board of directors of Builders of Dreams for Youth and the Starlight Foundation. He is married, has two children, Duron and Monterae, and lives with his family in Boca Raton, Florida.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Address: Cris Carter's Fast Program, 499 E. Spanish River Road, Boca Raton, FL. Phone: 1-866-552-5215. Email: info@fastprogram.com. Online: www.fastprogram.com.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Periodicals

Berardino, Mike. "All the Talk Only Motivates Cris Carter While He Regains His Health." Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service, November 17, 2002, K0326.

Chadiha, Jeffri. "Time Trial." Sports Illustrated, July 3, 2000, 60.

Cole, Jason. "Cris Carter Out with Kidney Illness." Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service, November 9, 2002, K4011.

Dillon, Dennis. "Show of Hands." Sporting News, October 30, 2000, 10.

Marvez, Alex. "Cris Carter Chooses Cash Over Game." I. Knight May 25, 2002, K4478.

Marvez, Alex. "Newest Dolphin Cris Carter Has Plenty to Teach—and Learn." Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service, October 27, 2002, K4005.

"NFL Football: Cris Carter Leaves Hospital." Sports Network, November 16, 2002, 100831S6220.

Sansevere, Bob. "It Appears to Be Time for Cris Carter to Move On." Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service, December 23, 2001, K1851.

Other

"Cris Carter," ESPN.com. http://sports.espn.go.com/ (January 2, 2003)

"Inside the NFL: Hosts: Cris Carter," HBO.com. http://www.hbo.com/ (January 3, 2003).

"WR Cris Carter Signs With Dolphins." Allsports.com. http://www.allsports.com/ (January 3, 2003).