At the 1948 Olympic trials, he was second behind Wally Ris in the 100 m freestyle,[8] and second behind Joe Verdeur in the 200 m breaststroke.

[10] At the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, Carter received a silver medal in the 200 m breaststroke in a three man American sweep of the event behind Joe Verdeur the gold medalist and ahead of Robert Sohl the bronze medalist.

In the men's 100 m freestyle, Carter finished fourth in the event final[11] behind his teammates Wally Ris the gold medalist and Alan Ford the silver medalist, thus narrowly missing another American sweep of this event as well.

Before enrolling at Purdue, Carter served in the United States Army Air Forces for three years as a bombardier during World War II.

Carter was also a Masters swimmer, breaking the world record in the 100 short course meters fly in the 65-69 age group in 1990 with a 1:24.43.