GAINESVILLE LEGEND CRIS CARPENTER STORY BY ELLIS PITTS If you have lived in Gainesville for any amount of time then you’ve heard stories of our local legend, Cris Carpenter. Afterall, Cris has been making headlines since he was 9 years old when he won the National Free Throw Competition and most recently making headlines on his selection to the class of 2024 State of Georgia Sports Hall of Fame that will be inducted this February in Macon. There will never be another Cris Carpenter. A student athlete that excelled at three sports and had the opportunity to play professionally at two of them. Yes, you may already know he was drafted first round by the St. Louis Cardinals in 1987 after a great baseball career as a relief pitcher at UGA but you may not have heard the story of the call Carpenter received from Washington Redskins General Manager Robert Beathard in 1988 while Cris was rehabbing an injury. Mr. Beathard needed a punter and knew just the player he wanted. Beatheard had followed Carpenter’s punting career at UGA and knew he could be the guy to come in clutch in their moment of need. While Carpenter considered the opportunity he knew he had to give baseball his full attention. Carpenter was the first punter to ever receive a full athletic scholarship to the University of Georgia. “If I loved one thing in my life it was punting,” said Carpenter “I just really enjoyed it but I had only been in the big leagues for one season at that point and needed to stay focused on that.” While at UGA Carpenter had a stellar career, Carpenter was drafted in 1986 by the Toronto Blue Jays after a standout sophomore season but respectfully declined because he wanted to come back to school and play his Junior season which would become his last season before getting drafted by the St.Louis Cardinals. Carpenter ended up having a great MLB career pitching for four clubs - the St. Louis Cardinals, Florida Marlins, Texas Rangers, and the Milwaukee Brewers. When asked about his induction to the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame Carpenter said, “it’s hard to accept an individual award when you are playing a team sport,” adding “when I get inducted into the Hall of Fame it just means my teams also got inducted.” Carpenter was also inducted as part of the inaugural class to the Gainesville Athletic Club Hall of Fame. Saying he had a stellar high school career would be an understatement. Carpenter was not only a punter for the Red Elephant Football team he was also the quarterback leading his team to three final four appearances and one title game. He would follow that season into basketball where as point guard he helped lead his basketball team to three State Championship title games bringing home the championship twice in 1983 and 1984. For GHS baseball, what would become his defining
Cris accepts the Hertz 1984 Georgia Athlete of the Year from OJ Simpson in NYC
