Javelina Hall of Fame
Bill Carter served as the men’s basketball coach at Texas A&M-Kingsville in the 1990s and led the team to two Lone Star Conference championships. He was inducted into the Javelina Hall of Fame in 2002.
Carter was the men’s basketball coach for the Javelinas in 1991-97.
In his first season, the Javelinas won their first-ever Lone Star Conference championship and received their first invite to the NCAA Division II national playoffs.
The squad finished third in the regional playoffs.
The Javelinas won another title in 1995-96 and again advanced into the national playoffs.
The team won 23 games in 1995-96 and 21 games in 1991-92 and 1994-95. Before Carter took over as the head coach, the Javelinas had had only two 20-victory campaigns.
He was named the LSC coach of the year in 1991-92.
Carter is a native of Davenport, Iowa, and he received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Dubuque and a master’s degree from Oklahoma State.
He started his coaching career at Wichita Collegiate School in Kansas where he served for eight years and won three divisional titles. He moved to Kapaun Mount Carmel High School in Wichita in 1979 and his teams won two consecutive Class 5A state titles.
Carter became the head coach at Friends College in Kansas in 1981 and his teams received the district playoffs twice in his three seasons there. The squad won the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference championship and posted winning records in each of the years.
He returned to Wichita Collegiate School in 1984-85 before moving to Cameron. He was at Cameron in 1985-89 when the school moved from being an independent into the LSC.
His 1987-88 team participated in the LSC but was eligible for the title. The squad was 12-2 and had the same record as champion Angelo State.
Cameron had a 57-34 record in Carter’s three years there. He also served as athletic director as well as head basketball coach at Cameron.
He left Cameron to become head coach at Amarillo Caprock High School and he was the head coach at Lewisville High School in 1990-91 before joining the Javelinas.
Carter has been the dean of students, athletic director and girl’s basketball coach at Thomas Jefferson Independent Day School in Joplin, Mo., for the past five years. Carter has numerous honors including Southwest Prep Conference Basketball Coach of the Year, Kansas High School Coach of the Year, Amarillo Globe Coach of the Year, Ozark Eight Coach of the Year as well as LSC Coach of the Year. He has been an inductee into the Ring of Gold in Wichita.
He is a member of the Rotary Club.
Carter is married to the former Bonnie Green of Duncan, Okla., and they are the parents of a daughter, Sherri, and a son, Dallas.