Carlyle Carter

Carlyle Carter, age 72, passed away in his Brooklyn Center home on August 6, 2025.

Born October 18, 1952, in Frostburg, Maryland, Carlyle said it was a miracle he lived long enough “to be anything.” Six weeks premature, he began life in the Appalachian foothills in a house with no indoor plumbing. He was the second child of Paul Oliver and Geraldine (Hickman) Carter.

After spending his early life surrounded by his aunts and uncles, cousins and grandparents, his first year of Elementary school was cut short when he and his family were forced to move from their home to make way for the expansion of Frostburg State University. Shortly after Carlyle’s 9th Birthday, his father Paul, passed away suddenly leaving his mother to raise him and his two sisters.

Carlyle credited basketball and college athletics with changing the trajectory of his life. After being cut from his high school basketball team in 10th and 11th grade he grew 4 inches and as a senior starred on the Connellsville High School team. In his final High School game (Fayette-Westmoreland County All-Star Game) the Head Coach from nearby Pitt-Greensburg offered him an opportunity to play if he could get into school. Ten days later Carlyle received his college acceptance letter. Before this, Carlyle hadn’t considered going to college, no member of his family ever had, but more than anything he wanted to play basketball, and if that meant going to college, he would. Even after his playing days ended, Carlyle’s passion for education continued. He earned a bachelor’s degree in 1978 and masters in 1983 both from Penn State University.

In 1980 Carlyle moved his young family to Reading, Pennsylvania where he was appointed Head Coach of the Men’s Basketball, Men’s Tennis, and Women’s Tennis programs while also teaching physical education at the Penn State Berks campus. During the next 4 years, Carlyle was named Conference Coach of the year 3 times (twice in Men’s tennis, once in Women’s tennis).

In 1984 Carlyle was hired by Rutgers University to serve as their first full-time intercollegiate Athletic Academic advisor for student-athletes in all sports. The following year he had an opportunity to return to Penn State serving as the Coordinator of Athletics for the Penn State Commonwealth Campus system. This was a fitting position as Carlyle’s masters project had been to create a handbook of athletic policy and procedures for the Commonwealth Campus system.

In 1987 Carlyle was one of 10 founding members for the National Association of Two Year Collegiate Athletic Administrators (NATYCAA), an organization that today still serves as the only professional organization that encompasses all two-year college athletic administrators from across the county.

While attending Pitt-Greensburg Carlyle, along with several teammates from out of the area, had rooms at the local YMCA where they lived during the school year. Carlyle kept the YMCA organization close to his heart and later served as the State College Area YMCA President from 1990-1993.

In 1994 Carlyle was appointed as the Executive Director of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC), an NCAA Division III conference. He was the first full-time commissioner of the MIAC and implemented much of the system of committee governance still in place today. He was also instrumental in securing a grant from the United States Olympic Committee to fund Women’s Hockey sports sponsorship in the conference. Carlyle was credited with being the first African American conference commissioner in the NCAA outside of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU).

In the final leg of his professional career, Carlyle came “back home” to the two-year college community serving as the CEO/President of the California Community College Athletic Association from 2005-2020.

Carlyle enjoyed his work and took a deep sense of pride knowing that he was helping to provide opportunities to young people who, like him, would not have gone to college without an athletic opportunity accompanying it. But as much as Carlyle enjoyed work, he enjoyed retirement even more. Carlyle spent every day of his retirement doing whatever his heart desired, perfecting his BBQ recipes, house projects, planting wildflower gardens in his yard, watching his grandsons play sports and many other hobbies. If he could read about it, he would try and teach himself how to do it and felt that nothing was out of his capacity to learn.

Music was a constant companion throughout his life. From sneaking into a neighborhood juke joint as a boy to curating a vast collection of vintage record players and radios, Carlyle’s days were rarely without a soundtrack.

Carlyle is survived by his two children, Sarah (Scott) and Jeremiah (Ellie), their mother Amy Carter, his grandchildren Abraham and Theodore, his sisters Sheila (Tony) Jordan and Denise Carter Salvi, and his partner Mary Clifford.

Carlyle was laid to rest back home alongside his parents at Frostburg Memorial Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg Men’s Basketball Team (150 Finoli Drive, LH 203A, Greensburg, PA 15601 or www.giveto.pitt.edu/giveUPG) in memory of Carlyle Carter.