McCarter is most likely remembered for a 1995 game in which Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Bill Cowher stuffed a Polaroid photo in McCarter's uniform pocket while leaving the field.
League rules did not allow using photographic evidence to overturn calls at the time, but the NFL later agreed that the officials miscounted the number of Pittsburgh players on the field.
Subsequently, the league issued McCarter and Montgomery a one game check fine, or $4,009 for McCarter and $2,826 for Montgomery; according to The Wall Street Journal, these were the largest fines ever for an American sports official at the time.
The Bears came into the week 13 game undefeated, but were beaten by the Dolphins for their only loss of the season en route to their victory in Super Bowl XX.
McCarter was also the referee for a December 1990 Broncos/Chiefs game at Arrowhead Stadium where he asked the KC defense to help lower the crowd noise, saying that failure to do so would result in Kansas City being charged a timeout.