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| Michael Carter is one of few athletes to be World Class in two sports. In track and field, Mike won the Silver Medal in the 1984 Olympic shot put in Los Angeles. He also set the still-standing national high school record with the 12 pound shot put of 81 feet, 3 ½ inches in 1979 when he broke the existing record several times and added an amazing nine feet to the record. In football Mike was a member of three Super Bowl Champion San Francisco 49er teams and three times was named All-Pro. At Southern Methodist University he was seven-time NCAA Champion in the shot put (four indoors and three outdoors). His personal best with the 16 pound shot put is 21.76 meters (71 feet, 4 3/4 inches). Mike was part of the SMU 1983 NCAA Men's Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field Championship team. He was starting nose tackle on SMU’s 1981 (10-1) and 1982 undefeated (11-0-1) football team. At Jefferson High School in Dallas, Texas, Mike was three-time Texas shot put champion and added a title in the discus. He was 1979 Track and Field News High School Athlete of the Year. Mike was U.S. Junior shot put Gold Medalist in 1978 and 1979. He is a top-flight shot put coach and coaches his daughter, Michelle, who won the Gold Medal in the 2016 Rio Olympic shot put. Carter was selected to the NFHS National High School Hall of Fame in 2010, the SMU Athletics HOF in 2010 and the Jefferson High School HOF inaugural class in 2006. Mike and his wife, Sandra, have three children and they reside in Ovilla, Texas. Mike was so gracious to spend an hour on the phone for this interview in October, 2016. |
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| GCR: | First, Michael, thank you for agreeing to this interview. Many athletes participate in multiple sports in their youth, but compete at the highest level in only one sport as an adult. You are one of a select few, along with Bob Hayes, Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders, to name a few, to succeed at the highest level in more than one sport. When you look back at achievements such as your 1984 Olympic Silver Medal in the shot put, still-standing high school record shot put national record and three Super Bowl titles along with three All-Pro selections while a member of the San Francisco 49ers, how much of a blessing is it to have the talent, determination and dedication to have succeeded at this level in two sports? |
| MC | It is truly a blessing because when I was growing up my father always told us when we were doing something to never go into it halfway. He said that we should go in with both feet and give it our all. That’s what I did. I wasn’t going to just be on the football team or play around with the shot put and just be there. If I was going to do it then I decided to do my very best and give it my all. That got me to the point where I got to be the best I could be at that time in both sports. It took me all of the way through to the top level in the NFL and all of the way through to the Olympics. |
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| GCR: | Let’s zone in on the sport of track and field and when fans and sports journalists look back at an athlete’s career, one big area where we measure success is by championships, medals and records. In track and field you won four high school state championships, two USA Junior Golds, seven NCAA titles, and an Olympic Silver Medal on top of your high school shot put national record. You also did all of this by the age of twenty-four before pursuing a pro football career. Are you pleased that you lived up to your potential or do you wish you had been able to compete through another Olympiad which was hard to do when playing pro football? |
| MC | We have to take it for what it was worth because at the time the carpet was laid out right. If I had graduated a year earlier without that redshirt football year, I would have graduated in 1983 and would have had to make a decision to stay one more year for track and field or go on to the NFL. I was thankful that it worked out the way it did. But I always thought about what would have happened if I had four more years and another Olympiad in the shot put. How far would I have been able to throw? We always talk about it, but we never know what my personal best could have been, could I even have come close to or break the World Record? I’m just thankful for the way it worked out in going to the Olympics and jumping right into the NFL. Then I was fortunate enough to be selected by the 49ers and they went right to the Super Bowl that year in my rookie season. |
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| GCR: | I’d like to switch gears before we continue with your football and track and field exploits. I’m the father of two daughters who are 31 and 29 years old, and as much joy as I have when I succeed, it doesn’t compare to the satisfaction of their success. You have coached all three of your children, so how did it feel when your daughter, Michelle, after nearly two decades as a hard-working athlete, won the 2016 Olympic Gold Medal in the shot put and, the way she did it, beating two-time defending Olympic Gold Medalist and seven-time World Championships Gold Medalist, Valerie Adams, on her sixth and final attempt in the competition? |
| MC | The feelings run deep because no one knows what Michelle went through. She had a number of injuries and physical ailments year in and year out, especially in the last five years that prevented her from being at her best. But we never did complain. We just took it in stride and tried to get the best out of her at that time. All we thought was if she was able to be healthy at this time then we wanted to see what would happen. This whole year, going back to the indoor World Championships, she came through with her best throw on her last throw. She did it at the Olympic Trials and at the Olympics. We started to see a pattern because we always said that it’s never over until it’s over and it only takes one throw to win it. When she did that at the Olympics when she came back and hit that 20.63 meters (67 feet, 7 ¼ inches), it was swirling in my head. My emotions were all over the place. I kept a straight face and it didn’t really dawn on me what had happened until later when I got back to the hotel. She finally did it. She really won the Gold Medal at the Olympics. I was very, very happy, especially as a father, but also as a coach because we are responsible for our athletes. The father can sit back and cheer, but the coach has to worry about all of the variables that come into play. I was happy on both sides. Once she won it, I told her that it’s time for the coach to retire for the rest of the year and to let me be daddy and really enjoy it. |
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| GCR: | It’s interesting that you mentioned that it only takes one throw. Let’s chat about what is sometimes called ‘The Shot Heard Around the World,’ your still-standing national high school shot put record of 81 feet and 3 ½ inches from the 1979 Golden West Invitational. The record before you broke it several times that year was just over 72 feet. Your improvement of over 12% would be like adding two feet to the pole vault record or three feet to the long jump record or taking 28 seconds off of the mile record. It was such a huge improvement, but both at that time and now when you reflect back, what are your thoughts on breaking a record by so much? |
| MC | First of all, when I was going into my senior year, I was still upset from my junior year because I had wanted to break the National Record that year. I threw the shot at the state meet my junior year three inches outside the sector on the left side of the sector and it went over 73 feet. So, that would have broken the record my junior year. I was more determined to come back and to prove that I could put that record out there. I looked at the meet schedule and I wanted to break the record of 72-3 in my first meet. So I wrote down my goal of 72-4. Then each meet after that I added six inches to my distance goal because I wanted to break that record every time I went out and competed. My very first meet my senior year I didn’t break it. Then I came back the second meet of the year and broke it. I ended up breaking it seven or eight times that year. By the time I got to the Golden West meet I was looking to break 77 feet, but I had done that earlier in the year. My girlfriend at the time, who is now my wife, said on the phone, ‘Throw it 80 feet for me.’ The whole time I was thinking of breaking 77 feet. But I thought, ‘Okay.’ The next day I was determined to do 80 feet and I did it. That proves it takes others to stretch your vision. I was looking to break 77 feet, but she told me to go out and break 80 feet for her and I went out and did it. |
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| GCR: | When I looked back at your sequence of marks that day, it was a great sequence. Your first and third attempts that day at the Golden West Invitational were over 75 feet and your fifth put was over 76 feet. When you topped 81 feet on your final attempt, did your speed across the ring, the push of the shot and your overall coordination feel any different when you released it and could you tell it was special, or were you surprised when you heard the result was four feet further than your national record? |
| MC | It felt special and that’s why if you look at the film when I released the shot I turned around as quickly as I could so I could see where it was going to land. I knew it was a good throw, but I didn’t know how far it was going to be. It was unlike the 77-footer earlier in the year which was an effortless throw. That one came so easily that I was surprised it went 77 feet, because I didn’t feel it. But with that 81-footer I felt it. I knew it was going somewhere, but I didn’t know how far it was going to go. |
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| GCR: | Let’s jump forward four years to 1984 and first to the Olympic Trials. There was a four-way battle to make the team with Dave Laut, Augie Wolf, John Brenner and you with a lot of back-and-forth changes of places. When reviewing the rounds, you were 2nd after round one at 67’7 ½, just ahead of John Brenner at 67’7 and behind Dave Laut’s 69’ 4. Then Brenner’s 67’ 10 ¾ in round two dropped you to third place Round five was big as Augie Wolf’s 69’ 8 ¼ took the lead, Laut’s 70’ 0 ½ regained the lead and then you improved to 68’ 4 ½ to move from fourth back into third ahead of Brenner, where you remained. How spirited was that competition, how tense was it and how exciting to make the team with four of you battling for three spots? |
| MC | Like they say even today, the United States Olympic team is the hardest to make. The serious competition is at the Trials. John Brenner and I were still collegians who had just finished up the collegiate season. The NCAA was a battle in and of itself. And then we had to get up for the Olympic Trials. We had spent our wad at the NCAAs, and then we had to turn around and get ready for the Trials. It was tough hanging in there. I am thankful that I got third place because I could have dropped to fourth. |
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| GCR: | At the 1984 Olympics you were first in qualifying at 20.69 ahead of Wolf at 20.55. How did you feel about your chances for a medal entering the finals? Did you feel ‘on’ and that your chances were good? |
| MC | No, and even to this day I am still kicking myself about that one – about the Olympics. There was a lot going on. I had a lot of people coming in from out of town. I was going back and forth between the two campuses at USC and UCLA because I had friends at both places. My parents were coming in from the airport and I was picking them up. I was dealing with my agent, the NFL and the USFL. By the time I got to the competition I had blisters on the bottoms of both of my feet. I realized I had worn myself out, I wasn’t fresh and I wasn’t able to give it my best. I still kick myself about that even to this day. |
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| GCR: | It was a close competition. Dave Laut’s 20.97 meter shot put in round one was ahead of you at 20.63 and Italy’s Alessandro Andrei at 20.41. In round two Andrei tied Laut, and you improved to 20.69. Round three proved to be pivotal as Andrei’s 21.26 toss and your 21.09 effort put you in the top two spots which held up for Gold and Silver Medals. Could you describe the competition, if any of your remaining throws came close, how exciting it was to earn the Silver Medal and how close it was to come within less than seven inches of the Gold Medal? |
| MC | When I talk to my wife, even now, she tells me that they were screaming at the top of their lungs for me to slow down. I was coming across the ring too fast and bypassing my positions. I was rushing my throws instead of waiting and letting the technique take care of itself. I tried to do too much. |
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| GCR: | Let’s go back to when you were a young athlete. Before high school, what were the athletic activities in which you participated? |
| MC | In junior high I did football, soccer and track and field. I was a sprinter in the beginning. I went through my growth spurt and wasn’t as quick as the other guys anymore. So in eighth grade I asked the coach what else I could do. He said there was the shot put. He pointed at it and I picked it up. I didn’t know anything about it, and he didn’t either. He didn’t really teach me anything about it. I just went out and threw in an open field. We didn’t have a ring. My best throw that year was 46 feet. I was determined to learn how to throw the shot put. My final year was ninth grade, which was still in junior high back then. I went and got magazines and followed Udo Beyer, the East German. There was a sequence from his throw in the magazine. I just laid it down and in the dirt I drew a six foot circle. I did everything those pictures dictated and depicted and that’s how I learned how to glide. In ninth grade I went 70 feet, five inches. |
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| GCR: | You competed in the shot put and discus in high school, but then focused mainly on the shot put in college. As you moved to higher levels of competition, how difficult was it to succeed at the highest levels in both events like John Godina did recently? |
| MC | It is tough, though we did both when I was at SMU. In 1981 I was second at NCAAs with a discus throw of 203 feet, three inches. With football season I didn’t have enough time to get ready for track and field because I didn’t have an off-season to prepare. I put the discus on the back burner and tried to get ready for the NCAA indoors in the shot put. Normally we were in a bowl game and I didn’t get back to training for track and field until January. Then I had to nurse my football injuries and learn how to come across the ring again. So, I kind of put the discus on the back burner and focused more on the shot put. We had good discus throwers on the team like Robert Weir, so I stayed focused on the shot. |
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| GCR: | You had high level success with three Texas State titles in the shot put and one in the discus and two Gold Medals at the USA Juniors championships. What stands out from your teenage performances either for great competition, exceeding you expectations or having family and friends at the meets to share the excitement? |
| MC | I was more focused on training and winning. I trained with the 12 pound and 16 pound shot put, so I knew what I was capable of doing. I had to get out and be able to do it. Today guys have so many more opportunities available to them with all of the different meets in the summers. I didn’t even know what summer track was until one of the coaches asked me to compete for his club. So I went to the meet. I was in Indianapolis and made a U.S. Junior National team and that’s where it really took off for me. I realized there was more than just competing in the United States. I was throwing against the Russians and the East Germans and I liked it. I wanted to travel in the summer. So I made a point of aiming to take it to the highest level that I could. |
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| GCR: | With your success in high school in both football and in track and field, you had opportunities to attend many universities. What were the primary factors that led to you attending Southern Methodist? Did many of the schools want you to compete in both sports or just one sport? |
| MC | The schools that wanted me to only do one sport were basically ‘Xed’ off of my list. I wanted to continue to do both and go to a school that would allow me to do only track and field during the spring and not have to do spring football and track. I knew that doing both in the spring would not allow me to give it my best effort. SMU recruited me for football and they said they also wanted me for track and field. At the time they had just hired Ted McLaughlin as the new track coach. They said that I didn’t have to go to spring football practice as long as I stayed in shape and was ready to go for two-a-days. That made my final decision to select Southern Methodist University because I would be allowed to do football and track without having to cross over in either one of the sports during the season. In the summers when I competed in European track and field meets, I would always shut it off after the fourth of July so I could get myself rested and ready for two-a-days. That’s why you never saw me in the World Championships or any of those meets that went into August and September. In Texas - football rules. |
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| GCR: | While at SMU, you won four indoor and three outdoor NCAA shot put championships and were part of the SMU 1983 NCAA Men's Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field Championship team. How does winning individual championships compare to the team championship? |
| MC | First, you have to have the individuals. I had to make sure that I did my job and won my event, the shot put. In high school I went to the state meet and was the only one at State from my school. I would score ten or twenty points and that was it. I’d get congratulations and move on. When I got to SMU, the first year I was at NCAAs by myself. The following year we started adding people at NCAAs and we got more points. Eventually we won the team championship. Winning the championship is a whole lot nicer when you can share it with your teammates. When there are other people who did well and contributed, it was great to be the champions of the NCAA instead of just the champion of my event. |
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| GCR: | It is easy to count the number of championships a person has, but not as easy to realize how tough the competition is to achieve those victories. Four of your seven NCAA shot put title were by fairly small margins of between three inches and nine inches – in 1980 outdoors over Oskar Jakobsson, in 1983 indoors over Augie Wolf and outdoors over John Brenner and in 1984 indoors over Soren Tallhem. What stands out from these very competitive battles and how tough was it to get to the top of the podium? |
| MC | It was tough as the thing about it is you have to get yourself ready. Those other guys had the luxury of having a complete off-season. I didn’t know what an off-season was. My off-season was banging heads on the gridiron. I had to rush to hurry up and get back in throwing shape to be able to compete. Once I got in those competitions, even though some of the times I wasn’t at my best, by the time NCAAs came around, and I had to dig deep inside, I was able to pull one out and win. I wasn’t happy just to be there at NCAAs. My goal wasn’t placing. My goal was to go and win. Whether it was on the football field or in the shot put ring, I wanted to give it my best. I wanted to win. That’s what it was and I was able to get seven out of eight and that eighth one was the kicker. |
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| GCR: | How bittersweet was it to set your all-time personal best shot put of 71 feet, 4 ¾ inches at the 1984 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, only to finish second to John Brenner's collegiate record of 71 feet, 11 inches? |
| MC | It was a great competition and John broke the collegiate record. On my last throw and, even to this day, we’ve been trying to find video of that competition because I threw it over 72 feet – some people say 73 feet. But I fouled it. I came over the toe board and was upset about that one because one of my pet peeves is fouling or coming across the toe board. It was a great competition, but nobody has a video of it. I would consider that to be my best collegiate competition. |
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| GCR: | You had some really tight battles with John Brenner of UCLA, and we have touched on some of them earlier at the Olympic Trials and that one NCAA Championship where he beat you. You were on top by nine inches at 1983 NCAA indoors, John topped you by six inches at 1984 NCAA Outdoors and then you beat him by six inches at the 1984 Olympic Trials. Were John and you friendly competitors and did you know each other well personally or did you just show up and duke it out? |
| MC | We basically just showed up and went at it. I would congratulate him and we shook hands afterwards. But going into a competition I didn’t say anything to anyone because I had tunnel vision. I was really focused on what I was there for. After my track and field days were over I went back and reviewed some details form my competitions and I didn’t realize that John Brenner was in the group at the Golden West Invitational in 1979. So that’s when it all started. I got a little chuckle out of that one. |
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| GCR: | Were there any other adversaries who you liked to compete with either in college or high school who pushed you to perform your best or were you zoned in on doing your best for yourself? |
| MC | I was focused on me because there was nothing I could do about what they did. The only thing I could control is what Mike Carter could do. That’s what I focused on. If someone came out and threw a huge throw, there wasn’t anything I could do about it. This wasn’t like football where when we lined up I tried to stop my opponent. In track and field with our throws I put all of the focus on me. If I put one out there I didn’t have to worry about getting tit-for-tat because someone else got one and now I was trying to get back on top. If I was really doing what I was supposed to in the first place, that shot would have went out there and I wouldn’t have to worry about anybody else. |
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| GCR: | An interesting nuance of track and field competition is competing both indoors and outdoors. In the field events I always see the throwers, jumpers and vaulters really wanting to get the crowd involved. Did you like the intimacy and crowd noise when throwing indoors? |
| MC | No, I zoned everything out. I didn’t care if there was one person in the stands or several thousand. The only thing I was focused on was what I was going to do inside that ring. If you ever watch film of some of my competitions, I’m not looking around – I’m just focused on throwing technique and what I want to do in the ring. |
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| GCR: | We talked earlier about how this year your daughter, Michelle, seemed to come through repeatedly on her last throw. When you look back on your major competitive victories and success in the shot put, did you usually put the pressure on your opponents right from the beginning in round one, or did you more often build and have your longest efforts in the final rounds? |
| MC | In college I had to deal with more injuries because of the level of play in football season. So, I couldn’t really be at my best coming out of football season and going into track season. There was always a rush to get healthy and to get flexible so I could be ready to compete on that level with the other guys. I high school it was a bit of a different story because I had more time before track and field season came around. We didn’t have indoor season in track and field in Texas, so by the time outdoor season came I was ready to compete. I tried to put the shot out there far to put the pressure on my opponents. At the NCAAs when I got to college it was more of a level playing field because there were other guys competing at that same level who were throwing just as far. I had to try to find the edge to be able to eclipse them. By being in two sports it was more difficult. If I hadn’t been in two sports it would have been a different story. |
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| GCR: | Speaking of your two sports, we’ve focused on track and field, but you were a standout defensive lineman on SMU’s football team that had top records of 10-1 in 1981 and an undefeated 11-0-1 in 1982. Despite the challenge of competing in two sports how much fun and excitement was there in succeeding in two sports collegiately during the two parts of the year? |
| MC | Oh, it was fun, especially with the collection of athletes we had, particularly at that level. In high school it was a little different because you had some guys on your team that made ‘All-District, maybe one guy who made All-State and probably no one who made All-American. When I got to SMU I realized that practically everyone on the team made All-District and we had a whole bunch of guys who made All-State. We also had quite a few All-Americans. We had a top collection of athletes and when I saw how they trained and how they operated and their thought pattern, it was fun to be around. When I was I high school, the most games we ever won in one football season was five, so I didn’t know what playoffs were. And I didn’t know what winning was until I got to SMU and we started winning championships. Winning bowl games was a great feeling. Then when I stepped off of the gridiron and went to track and field it was just me as there were other guys like Keith Connors and Robert Weir, Anders Harp, Richard Angstein and our mile relay team that were winning. In track and field we were winning championships, so it was a win-win situation for me all around. It was a great feeling. |
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| GCR: | When you went to the next level in the NFL, nearly everyone was an All-American, or at least All-Conference. How was it in terms of the increased level of play and how was it living a dream to go from an Olympic Silver Medal right to a Super Bowl champion football team? |
| MC | In 1984 the shot put was on the last day of the Olympics. So when I left Los Angeles I went right to training camp in Lawson, California with the 49ers and I was two and a half weeks late. I walked into camp and went to practice and was looking around at all of these guys and there were a bunch of them I had seen on TV before. On the inside I was standing there and thinking, ‘Oh my goodness, there is Franklin Masters and Hacksaw Reynolds,’ and I was thinking of all of these names I had heard about and watched. I was tickled pink on the inside. But on the outside, if you looked at me, I had that look on my face like, ‘Okay, I’m here to play – I don’t care about any names.’ You couldn’t tell that I was giddy about being there because this was a business and I had to make the team first once I got there. It was a strange feeling because I was only there for two days and the next thing I knew I was playing in a preseason game. |
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| GCR: | With such limited time for preparation, what did you do to try to get up to speed as quickly as possible and to do your best so that you could make the team? |
| MC | I didn’t know the defenses and hadn’t really had a practice. When we got to San Diego for the first preseason game I decided that the only thing I could do was to look at whoever was in front of me and hit them and where ever that ball went I was going to be. So I was running all over the field chasing the running backs, chasing the wide receivers. I was hitting the offensive lineman in front of me as hard as I could. I wanted to get to the play. That is basically how I made the team. The team kept ten defensive linemen that year and I was the only rookie. They had brought in a bunch of former All-Pros from other teams. There was Louie Kelcher, Manu Tuiasosopo and a couple other nose tackles. I ended up the third nose tackle on the team and, when you think about it, how many teams keep three nose tackles? |
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| GCR: | I’m sure there were many highlights on the football field in high school, college and as a pro, but how exciting was it six or seven years later when in a 1991 playoff game against the Washington Redskins you made an interception and then ran the ball back 61 yards to the end zone for a touchdown in what was a pretty tight game that blew it open at that point? |
| MC | That’s a defensive lineman’s dream to get a touchdown in a game. Basically I was a run stopper at the time. Washington was passing a lot at the end of the game and our pass rushers were getting tired so they said, ‘Mike, get in!’ They wanted me to give somebody a break so I went in. The next thing I know Charles hits the quarterback and I saw the ball up in the air. I just ran underneath it and kept running. That was my big touchdown and everybody, including my kids, still talks about it to this day. |
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| GCR: | We talked a bit about how Coach McLaughlin improved the track and field program at SMU. Behind every great athlete there are parents and coaches shaping them. Tell us about the main contributions your parents and your coach in high school made to your success as a person and an athlete. |
| MC | In my neighborhood everybody wanted to be a quarterback, running back or wide receiver. In track and field everyone wanted to be a sprinter or jumper. I never heard anyone talk about wanting to be a thrower. I didn’t know what throwing the shot put was until I started. When I started, my mom and especially my dad, allowed me to throw the shot in the back yard. I was putting those big divots and holes in the yard. I kept working even when it was 33 or 34 degrees outside. If it was 32 degrees and freezing I didn’t go out. I threw the shot all of the time because I wanted to be good at it and a couple of time I hit the chain link fence. I told myself that once I threw the shot over the fence it was time to go to an open field. My dad was the soccer coach at my high school and he would always stay until I finished. I was always the last one to finish throwing. If I had to stay out there for three hours and throw and throw and throw, he would be patient enough to allow me to do so. My mom was very supportive. My high school track coach at the time was James Daily. He made sure I had everything I needed. He was the one that allowed me to go to all of the big track meets that I went to my senior year – the Golden West, one in Chicago and one in Atlanta. They all were part of me being able to give it my best when I was in high school. |
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| GCR: | What did Coach McLaughlin add when you went to SMU and were there any assistant coaches or strength coaches that were helpful with your technique? |
| MC | When it came to throwing, Ted McLaughlin was the only one. He didn’t allow anyone else as they did their jobs and he dealt with the throwers. He allowed me to really hone in and focus on my technique as opposed to my athletic ability. Especially when I had total knee reconstruction in 1981 from a football injury, he was a great asset to me. He helped me get myself prepared for track season. Another main person was our head trainer, Cass Birdwell. When you have a total knee reconstruction you are looking at almost a whole year being out before you are able to rehab and come back and compete. I had surgery on my birthday, October 29th in 1981, and then I worked hard. He worked as hard as I did. He was there for me. I worked so hard that I was ready to practice by the start of two-a-days in July the next year. |
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| GCR: | I have distance running background but, as part of the track team, I noticed the many components that the throwers were doing. It seems like a lot of throwers start out as kids being strong, but how important are the factors of strength, speed, agility, balance, stance and posture in the overall coordination process that puts athletes in both the shot put and discus events in position to both throw the implement their furthest and with the most consistency? |
| MC | If you have a set program and you know what you are doing, it’s not that hard. This goes back to what I was saying earlier that if you are going to give it your all, you will try to know everything there is about throwing. Everything you do, conditioning and basically being an athlete. People think that just because you are a thrower you can be as big as you want to be, but it doesn’t work like that. You are going to be bigger than the runners, but you have to look at the bottom line and be an athlete. If you work on being an athlete, it doesn’t matter if they put a shot put, discus, tennis racquet or golf club in your hand, you should be able to do well at it. As long as you don’t forget that, you’re going to do okay. |
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| GCR: | Let’s talk about shot put technique a bit. Many top male shot putters now use the spin technique rather than the glide, though the glide was much more popular during your competitive years. What are some of the advantages of each, did you toy with the spin, and do you think you may have put the shot even further with several years to master the spin method? |
| MC | You never know how I might have done with the spin. I played around with it a bit and one time went 68 feet with the spin, or the rotational method. But I started out as a glider and I was true to the glide. There was a Russian who went to the spin and then I saw Brian Oldfield go to it. All of a sudden a few more people went to the spin. Out of all of the rotational throwers, until this year, Oldfield was the best as he used his athletic ability. You could see his right foot turning and his hips move the separation between the movements. After that everybody started spinning as fast as they could and displacing the shot, straight-legged and all. You can get so much more out of the shot if you just focus properly. So many guys tried to be as strong as they could and just bench press the shot. Then we see Ryan Crouser who is the next best thing since Oldfield. I look at Ryan’s technique and he’s good. I like what he’s doing in the ring. When he was challenging my high school record, I took a peek online at videos of his throwing and his technique and I thought that of everyone I had seen throwing in high school that Ryan had the best chance. When you think about it, the World Record is 75 feet by Randy Barnes. And Brian Oldfield did 75 feet as a pro in the mid-1970s. So the World Record hasn’t changed. It hasn’t got any better. |
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| GCR: | What do think it will take for someone to be able to challenge the World Record in the shot put? |
| MC | There are more people throwing over 70 feet, but as far as throwing the shot beyond that 75 feet barrier and record and putting it out there even more, I don’t see it. You can take an athlete and teach him the glide, because I know the power position in the glide. Some people think you have to be more athletic to do the glide, but I don’t think so. You can take that same athlete and teach him the rotational method and, if they did it right, they would throw just as far, if not further. Either way, the main thing is learning the technique, using it and being an athlete while you are throwing. Right now a lot of the throwers in the United States, when they are what I call Tier One athletes, other sports snatch them up. They go to basketball or football. One of these days we are going to get someone who is a Tier One athlete who decides to not focus on basketball or football because they love the shot put or discus and they decide that is where they want to be. We will challenge the record at that time. |
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| GCR: | You mentioned Ryan Crouser and it is interesting how tough the shot put competition still is in the United States. Last year in the shot put Joe Kovacs won the World Championship Gold and this year Ryan Crouser won the Olympic Gold. It seems like the shot put is always one of the USA’s top events. What do you see in the future for the U.S. in the shot put? |
| MC | They both compete well and we don’t have a shortage of top throwers in the shot put. In the discus, javelin and hammer it’s another story. But in the shot we are always at the top. The trend I see now is that the Europeans are going with the taller throwers like Ryan Crouser. When you look at Joe Kovacs, Reese Hoffa and Ryan Whiting, they are all at most six feet tall. When I went to the World Championships last year I couldn’t believe how tall the throwers were. They’re young and from six feet five on up to six feet eight inches. If they ever learn to really use their body inside of that ring, there are going to be some good throwers coming up. But the Americans other than Ryan Crouser are six feet and under. Ryan is tall and is he using his body well inside the ring. I’m looking forward to seeing how far he throws and, from this new crop of throwers, if any Americans can bring us forward in the discus, javelin and hammer. |
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| GCR: | Most of the top female shot putters in the Olympics at Rio this year were using the glide technique. Are there reasons that the spin technique may be better suited to most men while the glide method is more suitable to most women? |
| MC | The rotational method has much more to it than just spinning as fast as you can and then just punching the shot. A lot of the women don’t use their speed like the men because they are smaller. Until you look at Raven Saunders who is the fastest female I have seen using the rotational technique. You can come across the ring just as fast with the glide and by being in the right position can throw as far as or even further than with the rotational method. If you took athletes who use the glide and have them use the rotational, there would be some in one hand and some in the other. I think that a true athlete can do both. It doesn’t matter if you teach them the glide or teach them the rotational; they can throw far with either technique. They have to work hard and be dedicated because if one doesn’t work they quickly give up on it and switch to something they think is better. We are going to find more men who come back to the glide in my opinion. After a while when everyone is throwing the same distance with the rotational, there isn’t a breakthrough. One male will throw far with the glide and, all of a sudden, the coaches will want to start teaching the glide. It’s just like when someone is doing the glide they want to teach the rotational. |
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| GCR: | Due to the professionalism in track and field, a top competitor can have a lengthy career, and your daughter, Michelle, is a good example. What are some of the primary areas you see where shot put competitors who have competed for many years still have room for improvement that will yield increased performances or is it just building in all areas? |
| MC | It’s building in all of the areas. When I look at Michelle, I will see if she works something and can do A and B and C, then she will be able to throw far and that’s what we work on. But something always comes about. There is an injury or sickness or something comes up where we couldn’t get to that area of improvement. So we do the best we can that year for the World Championships and then start over for the next year. Even with this past year she had issues after the indoor World Championships with a back injury. So we had to lay off which is one of the reasons why she stopped competing in Europe. She stopped because she was hurt. We had to get ready for the Olympics which was the main focus. She was healthy enough for the Olympics and she did well. |
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| GCR: | For high school athletes who are naturally talented, but raw as they are in the first years of the sport, what are the main areas upon which you would advise them to focus to set the stage for continued improvement? |
| MC | The bottom line is being an athlete, getting in shape, being able to run, being able to get your body to do what you ask it to do. The problem I have with a lot of the kids today is that they want to be throwers and to throw far, but they can’t do pushups – they can’t do a set of five pushups. They can’t do sit ups. They don’t know what it is to go into the weight room. I tell them that if they don’t lift weights but they want to throw far that it doesn’t work like that. The main thing is to focus on being an athlete at an early age. Don’t just throw the shot put and discus, but play basketball and do other activities that keep you moving on your feet. A lot of kids want to sit around and play video games and be on the computer. Then all they do is throw. There is more to it than that. You have to move fast through the ring, learn the proper position, get into position and come out of position. I may ask them to work on their strength and to go out and bench press 400 pounds, just to be strong enough to move their body. That’s what I ask of them. When I threw 81 feet my bench press was 275 pounds. One of my high school teammates could bench press well over 400 pounds, but he was only throwing the shot put 60 feet. |
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| GCR: | You received many honors and accolades over the years. Some were for an outstanding season such as the Track and Field News ‘High School Athlete of the Year’ in 1979. Others are career affirmations such as being inducted into the Texas Amateur Athletic Federation in 2003, Jefferson High School Hall of Fame in 2006, Southern Methodist University HOF in 2010 and National High School HOF in 2010. How rewarding and humbling is it to be so honored? |
| MC | As we get older we really appreciate it. When looking at our body of work and at how this organization or group is giving recognition for it – at the time you just wanted to be you. I just wanted to focus on being the best I could be. I wasn’t looking at awards which may come later. I was in the moment and competing. I’m in high school and wanting to win the State meet and I want to throw as far as I can and set the national record. And when it’s over with, it’s over. Then when you get into your forties and fifties you look back and, oh man, you can really appreciate the work that you did and the work it took to get those championships and titles. Then when an organization recognizes me for this it is really special because not only am I being able to see it and appreciate it, but my family and my children were able to be there and to see it and appreciate it with me. |
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| GCR: | Switching to a lighthearted opportunity, you were on the Family Feud in a Super Bowl rematch with five Cincinnati Bengals and five San Francisco 49ers. I watched the tape and it was so funny. You and your teammates played for charity, a homeless food shelter in the San Jose area. How much fun was that game show and how much of a blessing is it to use your athletic stature to help less fortunate in your community? |
| MC | It was fun being there and with my teammates and me going against the Cincinnati Bengals. First it was fun just being on the game show. We didn’t have to worry about the money going in our pocket since we were playing for a charity. Giving back to people who were helping others was a great feeling. It was a blast. I looked at the film about a month ago and laughed. Oh, my goodness. It was great at the time. |
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| GCR: | I got the biggest laugh when the question was, ‘What do people fight about in a divorce?’ And you said, ‘The other woman.’ |
| MC | I think I was too quick. I was anticipating the question and gave the wrong answer (hearty laugh) |
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| GCR: | What is your health and fitness routine like now and have you added more cardiovascular exercising for general fitness? |
| MC | That’s another story. As we speak now I am healing from a femur fracture and can’t put weight on my right leg. I’m in the seventh week of that as I hurt it the day I got back from the Rio Olympics. This is where I’ve been since Michelle threw in the shot put final. In the past I’ve had two knee replacements, a right hip replacement and I need both shoulders replaced. It’s one thing after another. My coaches and friends of mine always ask me, ‘Would you do it again if you had the opportunity to do it all over again?’ The answer would be, ‘Yes,’ because I got so much enjoyment out of it. Yes, I would do it again. |
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| GCR: | What excites you and what goals do you have for your family life, coaching and helping others in the upcoming years? |
| MC | I’ve been coaching youth throwers and I am turning it over more to my son now and I’m kind of getting out of it. I’m coaching Michelle still. I’ve teased my kids that I’m looking forward to having grandchildren so I can get started on the next generation of the Carter throwers. The main thing is to get away from coaching and to do more travelling with my wife – just to get away. I love fishing and she doesn’t, so the main thing is to go places with her. One day if I can have grandkids, I’d like to throw with them. |
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| GCR: | When you speak to youth and speak to groups, what do you tell them about the major lessons you have learned during your life – whether it’s athletically, academically, the discipline of athletics, balancing the many components of life and any adversity you have faced that is summed up as the ‘Michael Carter Philosophy? |
| MC | Basically, I always talk about hard work. If it doesn’t take hard work to do it, then it’s not worth doing. You should never go out and do anything halfway because if you only do it halfway you are only going to get half of the results and you are just spending the time. We always talk about ‘the five Ps.’ That’s what I told my kids growing up – ‘Proper preparation prevents poor performances.’ If you have a bad performance you can always go back and trace what you did or did not do that led up to that point which you didn’t like. When the kids first heard me say it they said that they hadn’t heard it before. But it is always true. It could be the time you only took twelve throws in practice or didn’t focus on anything to improve in practice or you skipped the weight room that week. It all comes back to you in the end. You can see it as it shows up in your finals. If you are going to do something, jump in with both feet and do your best. We only pass this way once. It doesn’t matter what it is – you’ve got to give it your all. |
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| | Inside Stuff |
| Hobbies/Interests | Fishing and travel. I do most of my thinking when I’m mowing the yard and riding my mower. We’ve got five acres that I have to cut, so I do most of my thinking and brain storming then. I also like being with friends and barbequing |
| Nicknames | When I was growing up in high school everyone called my ‘Big Mike.’ When I was at SMU, my nickname was ‘Big MC.’ When I first got to the 49ers my nickname started out as ‘Hammer’ because I was hitting people so hard. Towards the end of my career, because no one could move me out of the middle, they called me ‘Stump.’ I was short and couldn’t be moved out of the middle |
| Favorite movie | ‘The Godfather’ |
| Favorite TV show | Recently it was ‘The Boardwalk Empire’ |
| Favorite music | Rhythm and Blues |
| Favorite book | The Bible |
| First car | 1971 Pontiac – a big car – close to a Bonneville. I think it was a Grand Ville |
| Current car | Chevy Suburban |
| First Job | I was a cook, cashier and did it all at Church’s Chicken |
| Family | My mom is Faye Carter. My dad is deceased and is Douglas Carter. My wife is Sandra Carter. I have two brothers, Bobby and Douglas, and a sister, Carol. My children are Michelle, D'Andra and Michael, Jr. |
| Pets | We have three dogs right now – one inside dog and two outside dogs. Inside I have ‘Ryder’ and he’s a ‘Jack-A-Bee’ – a Jack Russell Terrier and beagle mix. I have two German Shepherds who are our outside dogs. One is ‘Rocky’ and the other is ‘Rio’ |
| Favorite breakfast | A steak omelet |
| Favorite meal | Of course I’ve got to have a steak. But my favorite now is Mexican food |
| Favorite beverages | My kids will tell you it’s Dr. Pepper |
| First athletic memory | I believe I was in the eighth grade and was playing football for my Junior High. I had to go against this kid and to me he was like three hundred pounds. Maybe he was two-fifty, but in my mind he was three hundred. I was quick and fast and thought I was going to run at him right down his middle. Oh my goodness, I ran right down the middle of him and he forearmed me and busted me good and knocked my helmet off. I thought, ‘forget this,’ and ran around this guy |
| Athletic heroes | Jesse Owens in track and field. I grew up here in Dallas so everything was about the Cowboys. I was a Cowboy fan until I was drafted by the 49ers |
| Greatest athletic moments | There is only one – the competition at the Golden West Invitational. The 81-footer at the Golden West. That’s it by far |
| Worst athletic moment | The 1978 Texas State track and field meet my junior year in high school. I was state leader in the discus. I was sitting there and had a guy talk to me about technique. This is before the competition. He said if someone listened to him they could throw 250 feet, so I listened to him like a dummy. And I didn’t even make the finals though I was the State leader. I should have won State in the discus my junior year. That was my worst competition and my worst disappointment |
| Childhood dreams | We just played in the neighborhood – sandlot football and baseball. My dad didn’t allow my brothers and me to do organized sports until we got to junior high. I didn’t get to play in the Peewee Leagues |
| Funny and embarrassing memories | Personally, I don’t have any. When we get together with family and friends they always bring up something that I don’t remember. I always let them tell the stories and I don’t say anything. I can’t recall anything presently. You’d have to ask somebody else as my memory is pretty short |
| Favorite places to travel | My favorite place, of course, is New Orleans. It’s because of the food (big laughter). The reason I’m laughing is because when I played for San Francisco we’d go to New Orleans every year for a game. When you look at my game film I’m always bloated because my stomach was sticking out from eating so much two days before and the day before. I just eat when I go to New Orleans because the food is so good. I eat everything except shellfish |
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