Edwin Carty, ‘Mr. Baldwin High’ in 1935, dies at 96

Edwin E. Carty, a long-time sportsman, firefighter and Baldwin High School’s “Mr. Baldwin High” of 1935, died in Flower Mound, Texas on March 14 at age 96.

Carty was born in the Bronx on Oct. 4, 1915. He was raised in Bellmore, where he attended Bellmore Public Schools and graduated from Baldwin High School where he was vice president of his senior class. (In those years, students from some sections of Bellmore were bused to high school in Baldwin.) Carty married his grammar school sweetheart, Marie Kelly, in Bellmore in 1940.

Carty was an ardent sportsman. He was a halfback and defensive back on the Baldwin football team coached by George Craig. The team completed the 1934 regular season with an unblemished record — they were not only unbeaten, but were never even scored upon. In addition to earning varsity letters in baseball and track, Carty was captain of the Baldwin basketball team. At the conclusion of the 1935 season, he was named captain of the South Shore League All-Scholastic basketball team.

After completing a stellar high school sports career, Carty played semi-professional football and club basketball. He played in the so-called “Pony Backfield” for the Hicksville Field Club in the North Shore Semi-Pro Football Conference. During his eight-year playing career, the Hicksville team put together a 40-game unbeaten streak. (Games during the Depression routinely drew crowds in excess of 8,000.) Carty’s post-high school basketball career consisted of eight years playing with the Bellmore Boys Club in the Nassau Amateur League. His participation in these sports activities came to an end when he joined the Marine Corps during World War II.

Carty was also a long-time basketball referee, officiating at hundreds of high school and college games well into his 50s. He served a term as president of the Long Island chapter of the International Association of Approved Basketball Officials and was recognized at the Basketball Hall of Fame for his contributions as a member of the IAABO.

Carty freely contributed time to the community over some 40 years as a volunteer firefighter. He spent several years as a member of the Bellmore Fire Department prior to moving to Wantagh in 1948. He was named a Permanent Lifetime Member of the Wantagh Fire Department after serving that organization for some 35 years, including several stints as captain of the Hook and Ladder Company #1. He was also a member and past president of the Alpha Sigma men’s fraternity in Bellmore Harbor for more than 40 years.

Carty worked for 40 years in the insurance industry, starting his career in 1946 with Preferred life Insurance in New York City and eventually retiring from Kemper Insurance in 1982.

Carty’s funeral was held March 19. There was a mass at St. Barnabas in Bellmore, and he was buried at the Holy Cross Burial Park in East Brunswick, N.J.