Educator, Sportsman, Businessman, Humanitarian

To acquaint you with Bill, I will use the words of Times Herald Record columnist, Barbara Bedell, who has known him for a number of years.

His name could have been in everyone’s lips, just like Tiger Woods, Barbara wrote.  He was a great golfer, but society hadn’t embraced all people as equal citizens and he had learned to live with separation and back seats on buses.  As a product of a strong, resilient family, he appreciated guidance from his mother who told him when one door is shut, go to another.  She suggested he enter the field of education.

There is so much to say about Bill Carter, but it’s how the kids react to him that gets attention.  In 1988, he was selected as the Division Marshall in the Middletown Anniversary Parade.  All along the two mile route, the kids – all ages, sizes and backgrounds called his name.

It was obvious he was their idol, their role model, and their friend.  Later when the parade broke up he was like the Pied Piper as children followed him and shared conversations with him.

Thank goodness for small miracles because his quest for education turned him into a top notch teacher who became principal of Mechanicstown Elementary School and who turned young people on to learning and into spending their free time in physical activities such as golf.

Barbara recalls the day she visited him at his school.  “I saw him as a giant walking the hall and entering classrooms, but it was the gymnasium that he gave his shining performance.  It was a daily routine, all of the classes gather for the morning motivation – Carter style!  It was good manners, smiles, handshakes and telling the kids to be the best they could be and to take challenge.  Everyone was puffed up when they left that arena.”

It was so appropriate, years later, when he retired that the gym was named in his honor.  On his resume, he lists that as one of the greatest achievements in his life.  Bill Carter was the creator of a program he entitled, School is a Feeling, a humanistic approach to education, which is used as a model by schools and colleges throughout the East.

Although retired as a school principal, Bill Carter remains an educator.  He works as a Golf Professional at the Town of Wallkill Golf Course and owns the Willie Carter’s Golf Center.

Willie Carter has spent his life in the pursuit of excellence.  He is a graduate of Mamaroneck High School and Fayetteville State Teacher’s College and has been elected as a member of the Hall of Fame for both of these institutions.  He also holds a Masters Degree in Education and Administration, plus 40 credits from New York University.

He has served youth as an educator in North Carolina, the Warwick Training School and Mechanicstown Elementary School.  For over twenty years, as principal of Mechanicstown Elementary School, Willie Carter understood that “School Is A Feeling” and brought a Humanistic approach to education and golf.

Among Willie’s course records are scores of: 67, 68 at Winged Foot, 64 at Sazon Woods, 61 in Winter Haven Florids, 61 in Meadow Brook, Norfork, VA., 65 at Terry Brae, and a 29 for 9 holes at the Central Valley Golf Club.  He also shot the tournament golf course record in Charlotte, NC with rounds of 67, 69, 66, and 68, the same as Tiger Woods in the Masters.

Willie has come a long way from his days as a caddie.  As the Golf Professional and Director at the Wallkill Golf Club, Willie shoots in 18 holes what many of us shoot in 9, exemplified by the spectacular rounds of 33 for 9 holes with just his 7 iron, and 34 for 9 holes with just a putter?!!!

Carter is recognized for a lifetime of accomplishments that have made thousands of people, mainly children, more aware of diversity.  His skills range from Physical Education Teacher, Coach, and Director.  He recently organized a kindergarten through twelve-grade intramural golf program in the Middletown School District.  The district of over 6,252 students will be actively involved.

Mechanicstown is the pilot for this intramural program that has been accepted in the Middletown School District for all grade levels.  It started in the spring of 1999, and at the grand age of 73 Carter solicited enough clubs and other equipment to supply his young golf students and made the program a huge success.  He took adult clubs and has them cut down for the young players.  He has also recruited volunteer golf players from the hundreds he has taught over the years.

The programs goal is not to develop champions but to see that all youngsters have an opportunity to experience the game.