*****A celebration of Cart’s life will be at 4 p.m., TODAY at Hanes-Lineberry N. Elm chapel. The family will receive friends following the service at the funeral home and at his daughter’s residence.*****
+++++This man had a storied sports past and was part of Greensboro Sports history…….+++++
^^^^^Cart officiated/called 3,267 basketball games and 1,875 football games.^^^^^
Howerton Sr., Carlson Shepherd/’Cart’ Howerton
from the obituary at www.news-record.com:
CARLSON SHEPHERD HOWERTON, SR.GREENSBORO CARLSON CART SHEPHERD Howerton, Sr., also known as “Howie,” died Friday morning, September 18, 2015 at his home. Mr. Howerton’s health had begun to decline in recent years. A celebration of Cart’s life will be at 4 p.m., September 26 at Hanes-Lineberry N. Elm chapel. The family will receive friends following the service at the funeral home and at his daughter’s residence. He was born in Greensboro on October 13, 1927 and was the youngest of three children born to Walter H. Howerton and Lena Shepherd Howerton, both deceased. Mr. Howerton was a 1945 graduate of Greensboro Senior High School (Grimsley) and a lifetime member of Glenwood Presbyterian Church in Greensboro. Cart married his high school sweetheart in 1945, Alice Wolfe Howerton, now deceased. They were married for 64 years. Cart has one of the most varied and impressive sports backgrounds of anyone Greensboro has produced. A star athlete at Greensboro Senior High School, he signed a pro baseball contract at age 17. He and Alice travelled all over the United States as Cart lived his dream of being a professional baseball player. After many years of minor league ball, with a career batting average of better than .300, he worked for several major league teams, mostly for the Boston Red Sox, where he earned a World Series ring.He was the long time general manager of the Winston-Salem Red Sox and later for the High Point-Thomasville Phillies. It was his love of all sports that led him to officiating. At age 18, just beginning his minor league career, he was playing in a pick-up basketball game when his eye was split open by a stray elbow. He decided pick-up games were a bit too risky, but a friend suggested he could stay involved after his playing days by learning to officiate. Before he began his officiating career, he competed in professional baseball with players that would land in major league baseball and some that would eventually become enshrined in the baseball hall of fame. During this time, Cart not only was a superb player but he also stood up to the injustices of racial discrimination that he and Alice witnessed on many occasions during the late 1940s and 1950s while travelling the minor league circuit. He once told owners of an all-white restaurant and hotel that if his African-American teammates were not welcomed, the rest of his team would not stay or eat there either.After his playing days and baseball front office days were over, he joined the corporate world as a manager and operator of three Howard Johnson hotels in Greensboro and High Point. He also opened and managed a Bocock Stroud sporting goods store in Greensboro. At the same time and prior to leaving baseball, he began an officiating career that would span over 65 years. His colleagues, coaches and fans would come to know Cart as a walking and talking rule book. His influence has been vast, not only in North Carolina, but nationally as well. In April 1995 he received the distinguished service award for North Carolina from the National Federation Interscholastic Officials Association. More recently, he received a life membership award from the North State Football Officials Association, which he helped to found.He gave up active officiating in 1993, after a nearly-fatal bacterial infection he contracted while on a vacation trip left him with a slight problem with his balance. He served as chief supervisor of officials for North State, the largest officiating organization in the state. Every week he would be at a high school football game, grading, critiquing, and talking to officials, sometimes even at halftime. Over the years on the high school and college levels, Cart called 3,267 basketball games and 1,875 football games. He has been influential nationally in standardizing mechanics for basketball and football officials. He was presented with the prestigious Golden Whistle Award in May 2010. Cart was the first player ever to play four years American Legion Baseball in the State of North Carolina. He made All State three times; All Southeast and All America twice. He won the high school national batting championship in 1945. He served in the United States Army and made the Servicemen’s All America team and won the Military Service National Championship. He participated in baseball, football and basketball at Greensboro Senior High School and won most outstanding athlete in 1945. He also served as band drum major. In the minors he made several All Star teams and MVP awards.He was the chief instructor at the Florida Baseball School. He was chief instructor at Tampa University business administration. He attended Washington & Lee University while in the military. He is a member of the baseball Hall of Fame in Winston-Salem. His name is embossed on a distribution of baseball bats as a Genuine Howerton Louisville Slugger by the Hillerich & Bradsby Company in Louisville, KY.Carlson S. “Cart/Howie” Howerton, Sr. is survived by his son Cart Howerton, Jr. (Lisa), of High Point; daughter Sharon Howerton Wiseman (Noel) of Greensboro; granddaughter Talika Wiseman of Richmond, VA; his favorite sports prot?g?, grandson Jordan Howerton of High Point; and the light of his life, granddaughter Sarah Rose Wiseman of Greensboro. His older siblings, Beverly H. Higgins and Walter H. Howerton, both preceded him in death. Also surviving are a number of nieces, nephews and “furry” grandchildren.In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Children’s Home Society of North Carolina (P.O. Box 14608, Greensboro, NC 27415). Online condolences may be made at www.haneslineberryfuneralhomes.com.