Campbell University

In 18 years as Director of Athletics at Campbell, Wendell Carr was instrumental in the Fighting Camel program's elevation from NAIA to NCAA Division I status, the rise of women's athletics at the school, and the formation of and alignment with a conference that held automatic berths in NCAA Championships.
 
Coach Carr was inducted into the Campbell Athletics Hall of Fame in October of 2000.
 
From the time of his arrival in Buies Creek in the fall of 1974 through his retirement in the summer of 1992, Carr oversaw some of the school's most notable athletics achievements. After Campbell advanced to the 1977 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics men's basketball championship game, the school then moved to Division I competition the next fall. Carr also established the Fighting Camel Club, the University's athletic booster organization, and was one of the driving forces behind the formation of the Big South Conference.
 
His earnest efforts paid off with Campbell's charter membership in the Big South, a league of which he wrote the constitution and by-laws. In eight years, he served two terms as league vice-president and sat as the conference's secretary.
 
His impact on women's varsity athletics at Campbell was profound. During Carr's tenure, the University added six women's sports – softball, cross country, volleyball, track and field, golf and soccer.
 
Carr also played a large role in the addition of new playing sites on campus, including the Marion and Mary Eakes Athletic Complex that includes the Campbell Soccer Stadium and Softball Field, plus the James R. Nisbet Tennis Center.
 
In his final year as A.D., the Camel programs won the 1991-92 Big South Commissioner's Cup for overall athletics excellence. CU teams won five conference titles that year and the men's basketball team earned its first-ever berth in the NCAA Tournament.
 
A native of Muncie, Ind., where he was a basketball standout at Muncie Central High School, Carr served four years in the U.S. Navy from 1950-54. He went on to Wake Forest where he earned his B.S. degree in 1958. A member of the Demon Deacons' varsity from 1955-58, Carr captained the basketball team his senior year.
 
Carr earned an M.A. degree from East Carolina where he also served as the school's basketball, golf and tennis coach. He later coached at Indiana University while pursuing doctoral studies. He also coached at Memphis State and the University of Wisconsin-Superior before accepting the athletics director position at Concord (W.Va.) College in 1972.
 
During his tenure at Campbell, Carr also served as coach of both the tennis and golf teams. He guided the 1989 men's golf squad to the Big South title and was named league Coach of the Year.
 
Coach Carr passed away on Mar. 9, 2002 at the age of 71.