Emerson Carr, a trailblazing star called 'Truck' rekindles Minneapolis high school sports memories

The arrivals of the Twins and the Vikings were announced in 1960, with competition starting in 1961 at Met Stadium. This coincided with the last truly excellent stretch of Gophers football, with a 21-5-1 record in the regular seasons from 1960 to 1962, as well as 1-1 in Rose Bowls.

You didn't see the thick sports sections of today in the Twin Cities dailies, other than on Sundays. This made for tremendous competition for "space'' in the weekday newspapers, yet the Minneapolis Morning Tribune and afternoon Star maintained an understanding that room had to be found for high school coverage.

And while there were readers' complaints that the new "suburban'' power, Edina, was getting too much of that space, there was also a commitment to the "Minneapolis'' in the masthead.

The city was loaded with outstanding athletes and vibrant competition in nearly all sports. Obviously, this was a decade before Title IX created sports opportunity for high school girls, so the coverage was for 95 percent for boys – starting with football.

"Dwyane Netland covered us for the Tribune,'' Butch Davis said. "He was an excellent sports writer.''

And Davis' team, the Minneapolis Central Pioneers, gave "Netty'' excellent material.

This was particularly true in the fall of 1963, when undefeated Central dethroned mighty Washburn as City Conference champs, then survived St. Paul Humboldt's single-wing offense 28-26 in the Twin Cities Game.

I was a rookie copy boy at the Tribune that fall, taking by phone lots of prep scoring summaries and highlights. But even before that there was an awareness of the football talent at Central: Harry "Butch'' Davis Jr. Harold Boudreaux. Al White. Eric Eversley. Thornton Jones. Russell Gary. Glen Nevils. Jim Clark.

They had outstanding ends that rarely saw a pass, because the fleet of backs made the running game unstoppable – such a fleet that an uber-talented sophomore, Paul Hatchett, had to watch and wait his turn.

And then there was the most-ominous Pioneer of all: Emerson Carr, a 6-foot-4 tackle, a mountain of muscle for the time.

"Emerson would say that he weighed 210,'' Davis said. "It was closer to 235.''

The Central quarterback at the time, Gregg Wong, said: "His name was 'Carr,' but to all of us he was 'Truck,' because Emerson was as big as one. He was the biggest, strongest and quietest guy on that team.''

The high percentage of Central students were white, but the greatness in sports came from its Black athletes. And the quarterback that gave some diversity to the backfield, sportswriter-to-be Wong, could not have felt more comfortable with these teammates.

"Outstanding, high-achieving guys,'' Wong said Wednesday. "It was a pleasure to hand off to them. "Except when we got inside the 5. Then, I'd run a sneak behind Truck and the rest of our linemen and get a touchdown.''

That's what happened in the Twin Cities Game. The Pioneers rushed for 358 yards and threw one incomplete pass – by halfback Gary. Wong contributed one yard to the rushing total . . . for a touchdown.

These conversations with long-ago Pioneers took place this week because Thursday is Veterans Day, and it's the right time to remember Emerson Carr – graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Class of 1969; Marine pilot, including late in the Vietnam War, flier of both A-6 Intruder attack jets and C-130 Hercules, a prop to drop into tight spaces.

I got a call from Butch early this month: "We lost another one of our men. Emerson Carr has died.''

The date was Nov. 2 and he was 75. He was once referred to by his wife as "Superman'' for the incredible health ordeals this strong man had gone through and survived – the worst of those when his vehicle was plowed into by a work truck early in the 2010s.

There was a Caring Bridge item from late December 2020 that Carr was then dealing with E. coli bacteria. He made it back to his Silver Spring, Md. home for last Christmas. He still had heart issues and was permanently on oxygen when he died this month.

All of that, but he's still the "Truck'' to the Pioneers.

"Watching the Army-Navy games after we got out of high school and seeing Emerson out there for Navy,'' Davis said. "You would just say, 'Look at this!' I'd feel so proud.''

Carr received offers for appointments to all three service academies. He chose the Navy and studied engineering, but knew his goal after Annapolis was to become an aviator with the Marines.

"I saw him in the summer, when we were out of college, and said, 'Truck, you got skinny,' '' Davis said. "He said, 'I had to lose 20 so they would OK me to climb into the cockpit.' ''

I've read but can't confirm this: Emerson Carr was the first Black man from Minnesota to receive an appointment to a service academy. I can confirm this: He was the second Black football player in Naval Academy history, one year behind receiver Calvin Huey.

Freshman were ineligible and Carr's varsity seasons as a Navy tackle were 1966 to 1968. His coaches included Steve Belichick, father of a guy named Bill.

Speed, size, smarts, ready for battle — all those things got Carr an invitation to play in the East-West Shrine Game in San Francisco. That was a large event on the college football calendar, what with the limited number of bowl games.

Get this: There were only 28 players on the roster for each team. Twelve players were listed on defense for the East, including Carr. Three Gophers were there: defensive end Bob Stein, linebacker Noel Jenke and guard Dick Enderle.

"I didn't know Emerson all that well, but I certainly was impressed with his ability,'' Stein said. "Some of those other Central guys – Boudreaux, Al White … we'd play pick-up basketball with them in the summer. That was a tremendous group of athletes.''

Carr left the service and used engineering to put together a resume of large jobs in the corporate world. He was living in Silver Spring, working as a consultant, when the crash put him in intensive care for weeks … with a small chance of survival.

He made it. He was "Superman.'' Or "Truck.''

Both seemed to fit well for Emerson Carr.