Freddie Alton Carr (August 19, 1946 – February 19, 2018) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player who played

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

for the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) from 1968 to 1977. Carr attended

Phoenix Union High School Phoenix Union High School (PUHS) was a high school that was part of the Phoenix Union High School District in downtown Phoenix, Arizona, one of five high school-only school districts in the Phoenix area. Founded in 1895 and closed in 1992, the ...

, where he also competed in

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

and track, representing P.U.H.S. as a

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy disk (mathematics), disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an classical antiqui ...

er and in the

shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

. He was in the top ten discus throwers in the U.S. in his senior year. He played for

Phoenix College Phoenix College (PC) is a public community college in Encanto, Phoenix, Arizona. Founded in 1920, it is one of the oldest community colleges in the country. History The college was originally a part of the Phoenix Union High School and Juni ...

before transferring to the

University of Texas at El Paso The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas. It is a member of the University of Texas System. UTEP is the second-largest university in the United States to have a majority Mexican American stud ...

(UTEP) in 1965, where he was called "Probably the best overall linebacker in school history." Fred was inducted into the UTEP Athletics Hall of Fame, September 23, 2005, and would later also be elected to the Phoenix College (PCAA) Hall of Fame in their inaugural class of 2007.

Green Bay Packers

Carr was the fifth overall selection of the 1968 NFL/AFL draft, taken by the

. The Packers got this draft slot in the previous year's trade with

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

that sent longtime fullback Jim Taylor to the Saints. Some were surprised that the Packers, who already had a strong linebacking corps led by future hall of famers

Ray Nitschke Raymond Ernest Nitschke (December 29, 1936 – March 8, 1998) was a professional American football middle linebacker who spent his entire 15-year National Football League (NFL) career with the in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in , he was the a ...

and Dave Robinson, chose him. General manager

Vince Lombardi Vincent Thomas Lombardi (June 11, 1913 – September 3, 1970) was an American football coach and executive in the National Football League (NFL). Lombardi is considered by many to be the greatest coach in football history, and he is recognized a ...

, however, considered him to be the best player in the draft, and one who could play a variety of positions, including linebacker, tight end, strong safety, and defensive end. Carr's professional career spanned ten seasons, all with the Packers. His final season was 1977; before the 1978 season, the Packers waived Carr as the result of a deep conflict over how Carr's injured knee should be treated. He settled his dispute with the Packers in 1979 and signed with the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

as a free agent, but never played for them.

Post-NFL life

Carr had six children, and his nephew

Terry Fair Terrance Delon Fair (born July 20, 1976) is an American football coach and former player. A first round pick in the 1998 NFL Draft, he played cornerback for several seasons from 1998 to 2005. He played college football at Tennessee. After his ...

played in the NFL. Carr was named to the

Hall of Fame in 1983. Carr died on February 19, 2018, after suffering from dementia and prostate cancer, at the age of 71.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carr, Fred 1946 births 2018 deaths American football linebackers Green Bay Packers players UTEP Miners football players UTEP Miners men's basketball players National Conference Pro Bowl players Phoenix Bears football players Basketball players from Phoenix, Arizona Players of American football from Phoenix, Arizona Deaths from dementia in Arizona Deaths from prostate cancer American men's basketball players Deaths from cancer in Arizona