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June 30, 2011

All-State Rougher ex Carpenter dies

Phoenix Staff Reports

— Preston Carpenter, a former all-state football player who played at Muskogee Central High School before later embarking on an 11-year NFL career with five teams, died Thursday in Tulsa. He was 77.

Originally from West Memphis, Ark., Carpenter made all-state at Muskogee in 1951 and was a member of the Oklahoma team in the 1951 Oil Bowl.

He then went to the University of Arkansas where in 1955, he was All-Southwest Conference and the team’s most valuable player. There, Carpenter was involved in “The Powder River Play,” one of the most famous plays in Razorbacks’ history.

Buddy Benson threw a pass to Carpenter for what turned into a 66-yard touchdown pass for the only score in the Razorbacks’ 6-0 victory over No. 5 Ole Miss in 1954 before a packed crowd of 38,000 at Little Rock’s War Memorial Stadium. Benson, a longtime coach at Ouachita Baptist University, died earlier this year.

He was the No. 1 draft pick of the Cleveland Browns and was a Pro Bowl selection with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1962. He also played with Washington, Minnesota and Miami, retiring with a  combined 6,253 receiving, rushing, and return yards, with a 25.9 yards/touch career average on kickoff returns, and a total of 24 touchdowns: 23 rushing and one receiving.

He wound up inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 1992, the UA Sports Hall of Honor in 1996 and in 2007, was inducted into the Muskogee High School Athletic Hall of Fame.

Survivors include his wife, Jeanne. Funeral arrangements were not known.

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