M.L. Carr

Michael Leon Carr, born January 9, 1951, was an American professional basketball player, coach, and executive. A native of Teachey, North Carolina, he was the first African-American member of the basketball team at Wallace-Rose Hill High School. He went on to play four years at Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina, winning the NAIA championship in 1973. That year the Kansas City Kings selected him with the seventh pick of the fifth round of the 1973 NBA draft, though he never played for the team. He then signed with the Kentucky Colonels but was among the final roster cuts in camp and released.

Carr's playing career also took him through the Eastern Basketball Association, the European Professional Basketball League, and the American Basketball Association before he reached the NBA. He played nine seasons in the league with the Detroit Pistons and the Boston Celtics, winning two NBA championships with the Celtics in 1981 and 1984.

After retiring as a player, Carr returned to the Celtics in a front-office and coaching capacity, serving as general manager during the 1994–95 season and as head coach from 1995 to 1997.