Thomas ‘Rube’ Carter Golden Wildcat ’57
Thomas Carter was born in Orange Mound, where he graduated from the mighty Melrose Golden Wildcats in 1957. After moving to Atlanta, he was dynamic computer programmer at IBM and an advocate leaving a stamp on his community. He initiated a series of impressive firsts always answering the call of progress:
- First African-American to run for Cobb County Commissioner.
- Organized a community group that petitioned Cobb County for a Human Relations Council.
- Organized the Cobb County Marshals for the first Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Parade.
- Co-founder and Chairperson of the MLK Support Group in Cobb County and was one of the key speakers before the school board that subsequently set aside a holiday honoring Dr. King.
- Co-founder of the Kathryn Woods Committee, a community-based organization that awards academic scholarships to deserving high school seniors.
- Co-organizer of the anti-KKK rally in response to the cross burning in West Cobb in 1988.
- Influenced a positive change in CCT bus routes and assisted in the formation of the Cobb Community Coalition for Social Change.
- Instrumental in getting a criminal charge against a 19-year old pre-law student reduced from kidnapping to a misdemeanor.
Melrose HS Alumni in Atlanta becomes Advocate for Change & Progress
Thomas ‘Rube’ Carter is also former member of the East Cobb Kiwanis Club. He was a political advisor to candidates that ran for Congress and Superior Court Judge.
He is an avid golfer, a former member of the Strokers Golf Club, and East Cobb Classic Golf Club. As former Director of Public Relations for the African American Golf
Foundation, Inc., he was responsible for getting the Cobb County Commissioners to budget $33,000.00 per year, for two years, to this organization; he is the former Chair of the Board for AAGF. He is also a former coach of the Blackwell Bear’s football organization in Cobb County and coached a championship basketball team for the Lawrence Street recreation center in Marietta, Georgia.
Rube Carter is a veteran with an honorable discharge and is married to Candace Carter, formerly of Beacon, New York. He is the father of five adult children, and is retired with disability.