WIBN Ambassador Spotlight | Anthony Carter (UNC-Pembroke)

Imagine this scenario: It's your senior year of college. You're having a great season, and your very school will host the Super Regional Tournament, where you will likely qualify for the National Tournament. A week before the Regional Tournament, you fracture your cheekbone in a wrestling match in one of your last matches of your career and cannot compete in your final post-season. While he finished and won that match, his final wrestling season was now over. That is precisely what happened to Anthony (AC) Carter from the University of North Carolina (UNC) – Pembroke. While he certainly felt a flood of emotions following this devastating news, he handled it the way he learned to handle adversity through the sport of wrestling. He focused on what was ahead of him and didn't lament what was potentially lost. Keep moving.

Growing up in Blenheim, South Carolina, wrestling wasn't a popular sport, and there weren't many wrestlers in his community. So, his introduction to wrestling is an uncommon story. When he was young, his older sister introduced him to the sport. She was involved in the sport and would bring him to her practices. This introduction would lead to a long road that would see him land at UNC-Pembroke.

AC was a very accomplished athlete and participated in sports other than wrestling. He also played football and ran track. But he was known as a wrestler. He had a lot of success in high school and was always on the podium at the end of the season. However, he didn't know anything about college wrestling or the opportunities that he might have to use wrestling as a way to college. Luckily, his coach was a former UNC-P stand-out (Shane Nolan) who provided great advice and opened his eyes to the possibilities. Given that his coach was a former UNC-P wrestler, it would have been natural for him to have chosen UNC-P as his first choice. It didn't turn out this way initially. Instead, AC formed a strong bond with Cy Wainright, the head coach at Newberry College in South Carolina.

After enrolling in Newberry and spending a year there, he started to form his life plan, and, unfortunately, Newberry didn't have the major he wanted (International Business). After his first year, he discovered that UNC-P had the major he wanted, and he would also be able to get a minor in Information Technology. So off to UNC-P he went and never looked back.

His experiences at UNC-P have been life-changing, and he is much appreciative of the lessons he has learned there and the relationships he has formed. He could not be more appreciative of his head coach (Othello 'OT' Johnson) and the mentorship and leadership he has received from him.

AC has been very involved in a number of groups at UNC-P, including the Student Government, a mentorship program, and a fraternity (Kappa Alpha Psi). Although he has formed some lifelong bonds with his wrestling teammates, he has learned a tremendous amount through Kappa Alpha Psi and strives to live his life according to their motto: "Achievement in Every Human Endeavor."

AC is set to graduate in the spring, and his future is very bright. He has already been offered a position at Geico in their management development program. He also has several other opportunities in the works, and he will likely have a difficult decision to make.

Reflecting on his wrestling career, and when asked about his proudest moment in the sport, I was somewhat surprised by how he responded. It wasn't a tournament victory, an upset win, or a state championship. It was his team winning the Super Region and him seeing the success that his training partner had at the National Tournament. People tend to think wrestling is an individual sport, but not to AC, and this answer speaks volumes of his character, priorities, and selflessness.

As AC now watches his team enter the post-season, he looks at his injury and sees the silver lining: at least he won his final wrestling match. We bet that he will have many more victories in his life in the future.