GAINESVILLE, Fla. — He was the grandson of a man who stepped off a train in 1906 and decided to make Gainesville his home. William Curtis "Bill" Carr III was born here 39 years later, the son of a Baptist minister.
As his preacher father moved around the state to spread the gospel, Bill Carr III grew up between Vero Beach and Pensacola, where, as a promising young football player, he learned the intricacies of the sport at Pensacola High from head coach Jimmy Haynes, a former University of Florida assistant, and Bob Wehking, who played center for the Gators in the late 1950s and early '60s.
The path was paved for Carr to return to his birthplace when it was time for college.
"It wasn't hard to sell me on the University of Florida,'' Carr once told the Gainesville Sun.
Bill Carr as a UF player. (Photo courtesy of Carr family)
Carr arrived at UF in the mid-1960s and was the Gators' starting center for three seasons, including 1966, when his college roommate won the Heisman Trophy and led the Gators to an Orange Bowl win over Georgia Tech.
"His teammates called him Willie C, and he loved his school and everyone around him,'' Steve Spurrier said Sunday upon hearing of Carr's passing. "We loved him back, and all of us have many wonderful memories of Bill."
An All-American player at UF, Carr signed with the New Orleans Saints after college and spent a season on their practice squad before serving a two-year stint in the Army, primarily in Korea. Carr was cut before the 1970 season when he returned to the Saints.
A different path for Carr's future emerged.
"I was crushed,'' he told the Sun 45 years ago this month when he was named UF's athletic director in February 1979 at 33 years old. "I had never failed before, and it shook me up. I decided I was going to have to work hard to make something of myself."
Carr's next big decision was to return to UF, where he was inducted into the school's Athletic Hall of Fame as part of the inaugural class of 1968. He came back to earn a master's degree. When he showed up around the first game of the 1970 season, then-Gators coach Doug Dickey offered Carr a spot as a graduate assistant. Carr's college coach, Ray Graves, had moved up to become athletic director earlier that year.
Carr spent two seasons as a graduate assistant before leaving for an assistant coach's position at Deland High. That lasted three months. Carr discovered his heart was not in coaching, and he returned to UF to become an academic advisor and to learn as much as possible about sports administration, an area he developed an interest in while in the Army.
He advanced to become an assistant to Graves in 1974, and two years later, he was named an assistant athletic director, eventually replacing Graves in 1979 as the AD role in college athletics began a modernized era. The days of former coaches moving into that role to finish their careers began to fade.
Carr took over a Gators athletic department that was $700,000 in the red, and by the time he stepped down seven years later, Florida's athletic department was in strong financial standing and had an operating budget of $13 million.
Former Gators athletic director Jeremy Foley, who worked under Carr at the start of his career, reflected on Carr's impact Sunday.
"Bill Carr was a wonderful man and a great Gator. I am very saddened by his passing and wish to send my condolences to his entire family,'' Foley said. "Bill's fingerprints are all over the foundation of this program. I had a front-row seat to witness his impact and vision during his time as athletic director, especially in the area of facilities.
"He was one of my first mentors and had a huge impact on my career. I was so blessed to be on his staff. I will forever be grateful for the opportunities he gave me as he changed my life by trusting and believing in me at a very young age."
Bill Carr speaks at a memorial service for Ray Graves at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in 2015. (File photo: Tim Casey/UAA Communications)
Carr took over the department three months after Charley Pell was hired to lead the football program. Their careers are linked for better or worse due to NCAA infractions during Pell's tenure.
Carr named Galen Hall to replace Pell two games into the 1984 season, and the Gators reeled off a 15-0-1 record in Hall's first 16 games, ascending to No. 1 in the AP Top 25 for the first time in program history with a road win at Auburn in November 1985.
During his tenure, Carr's most notable moves included replacing men's basketball coach John Lotz with Norm Sloan, hiring baseball coach Joe Arnold, and bringing on Ann Marie Lawlor to serve as women's athletic director.
By the time Carr announced he was stepping down to pursue other endeavors in June 1986, he was at peace with the job he had done.
"The role of athletic director is that of an expediter in a bureaucratic process,'' Carr told the Tampa Tribune. "I got a lot of mud on my boots. I've been tromping through the woods and fields and carrying the baggage with me. A new guy can come in and have a great opportunity. He probably won't be local, as I was, which in many ways can be a handicap. He won't have enemies. He won't have those out there who don't take what I do at face value. He won't have any mud on his boots.
"I don't feel anything but good about this, as a Gator and as a person,'' Carr continued. "I have been a Gator virtually all my life and will continue to be one."
Carr later served as athletic director at the University of Houston and spent many years recognized as one of the nation's premier athletics administrators in executive search and management consultant services for intercollegiate athletics.
William Curtis "Bill" Carr III died on Saturday at 78. He is survived by his wife, Janice, sons Jason, Scott, Jordan, and Curtis, and daughter Julie.
Bill Carr, right, with his former coach, Ray Graves, and Yankees owner George Steinbrenner. (Photo: UAA archives)
"His legacy will be carried on by the many lives that he touched, and our thoughts and prayers are with his family and loved ones,'' UF athletic director Scott Stricklin said.
Carr took a final turn in the Gators' spotlight in 2015 when he served as Honorary Mr. Two Bits. The opportunity took him back to when he arrived 50 years earlier as a player.
"I'm one of the many Gator fans that feel that sense of expectation and hopefulness and excitement about getting on the field again," he told FloridaGators.com. "Every summer, when it's hot, and I smell fresh cut grass, it brings back the days when I was wearing a helmet and shoulder pads."
Goodbye to a good Gator.
Scott has been a senior writer for the Florida Gators since 2010.