[2][3][4] Carl was born in the city in 1898 and educated at Christchurch Boys' High School and at Canterbury College, where he was awarded a Master of Arts degree with first-class honours in history.

[8] One of his pupils there, Charles Brasch, later described him as one of the better teachers at the school, and said of him, "I liked our manly young history master, Carl Zimmerman, good cricketer and handsome upright figure, blue-eyed with pale skin and black close-curling hair, who had indifferent health and perhaps some tender susceptibilities under a rather quick-fire manner and uncertainty of temper.

[15] A left-handed batsman who was considered "very solid"[16] but also "entertaining" and with the ability to score quickly,[17] in 1925–26, in his second match for Otago, Zimmerman made 77 runs in the second innings against Auckland, adding 151 for the fourth wicket with his captain, Ernest Blamires.

[20] In late 1937 he scored 113, 212 and 151 in successive innings for Oamaru[21] and when the club celebrated its sesquicentenary in 2014, Zimmerman was named in its all-time greatest eleven.

[22] When working as a teacher his opportunities to play senior cricket were limited, although after moving to the legal profession these increased.

[13] Two weeks previously, in North Otago's match against Southland, he had scored 117 then taken five wickets for four runs on the opening day, a performance the Timaru Herald called this "one of the most notable feats in any kind of representative cricket this season".