Joe Carter Sr.: The father behind a major-league hero and a prolific Oklahoma City family

The Carters became a legacy at Millwood High School and the first family of Oklahoma City sports.

Joe Carter Jr. was the household name, spending almost two decades in Major League Baseball and hitting that memorable walk-off home run to clinch the 1993 World Series for Toronto, but many of his brothers and sisters were standouts, too. They won state titles. They set high standards.

The legacy began with the man known as Mr. Carter.

He died Thursday at the age of 82.

“Your dad set the example,” Millwood girls basketball coach Arnelia Spears told the family Monday inside the school's gym.

Truth be told, Mr. Carter should be an example to all.

He grew up in a time of segregation, but he refused to let anything hold him back. He became a three-sport standout at Booker T. Washington High in El Reno, then became one of the first blacks to own his own Conoco service station.

He was a self-made man.

The thing is, Mr. Carter was quick to help others, too.

“He was always trying to do for somebody,” his son Fred said.

He'd give a couple extra bucks to the pastor for gas money. He'd leave an envelope for special offerings at church.

But the ones he did for the most were his children.

Mr. Carter and his wife, Athelene, had a dozen children. Clarence. Charles. Charlette. Darlene. Patricia. Lenise. Carolyn. Joe Jr. Larry. Fred. Teresa. And one baby who was stillborn.

Charlie Greene has known the family since the 60s. He was a coach and PE teacher at Moon Junior High when the oldest boys, Clarence and Charles, were in school there.

Six or eight years later, Greene moved to Millwood as an assistant principal.