Editing Gary Carter (section)

== Early life ==
Carter was born in the Los Angeles suburb of [[Culver City, California|Culver City]] in 1954 to Jim Carter, an aircraft worker, and his wife, Inge. One month after Carter turned 12 in 1966, his 37-year-old mother died of [[leukemia]].<ref name="SI-Verducci-memory" />

Athletic at a young age, Carter, along with four other boys, won the seven-year-old category of the first national [[Punt, Pass, and Kick]] skills competition in 1961.<ref name="GreenBayPuntPassKick">{{cite web |last=Ash |first=Jeff |date=July 1, 2012 |title=1961 Punt, Pass & Kick champs hold fond memories of Titletown |url=http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20120701/PKR01/307010241/1961-Punt-Pass-Kick-champs-hold-fond-memories-of-Green-Bay |access-date=July 2, 2012 |work=Green Bay Press Gazette}}{{dead link|date=October 2022|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref> Carter attended [[Sunny Hills High School]] in [[Fullerton, California|Fullerton]], where he played [[High school football|football]] as a [[quarterback]] and baseball as an infielder, graduating in 1972. He also played [[American Legion Baseball]] and was named the 1971 American Legion Graduate of the Year.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.legion.org/baseball/awards/graduate |title=Graduate of the Year |website=[[American Legion]] |access-date=June 7, 2019}}</ref>

After receiving more than 100 athletic scholarship offers,<ref name="LA_Death">{{cite news |url=http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-me-gary-carter-20120217,0,6528145.story |title=Gary Carter dies at 57; baseball Hall of Famer |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=February 17, 2012 |last=DiGiovanna |first=Mike |access-date=February 16, 2012}}</ref> Carter signed a [[National Letter of Intent|letter of intent]] to play football for the [[1972 UCLA Bruins football team|UCLA Bruins]] as a quarterback, but then signed with the [[1972 Montreal Expos season|Montreal Expos]] after they selected him in the third round (53rd overall) of the [[1972 Major League Baseball draft]].<ref name="LA_Death" /><ref name="SI-Verducci-memory" />