1919

Amon G. Carter Jr. is born in Fort Worth and dubbed “Cowboy” by his father.

1929

Carter begins his active career, at age 10, with the Star-Telegram selling newspapers on the corner of 7th and Taylor, which eventually leads to an early morning delivery route; a TCU scholarship for the newsboy with best grades graduating high school was later created in his honor.

1934

Enters Culver Military Academy, Culver, Indiana; he graduates the following year.

1938

Enters University of Texas, Austin, in the business administration program.

1941

Enters the United States Army as a lieutenant with the 1st Armored Division at Fort Knox, Kentucky.

1943

Taken prisoner in Tunisia, North Africa, while serving as a forward observer. He is initially held in Italy, then transferred to Poland by the German Wehrmacht. During the 27 months he is a prisoner in Oflag 64, a camp outside Szubin, Poland, he manages to contact his father and tell him he is alive and that he is with other Texas prisoners of war. His father begins publishing updates for all the families in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Carter Sr. sends his son supplies and information through an underground contact in Portugal. Carter Jr. uses these materials to “publish” on toilet paper a newspaper for the camp. He also includes news from a friendly Polish contact at the train station who clandestinely listens to British radio and leaves news items in a wastebasket for Carter Jr. to recover later.

1945

German forces, in full retreat, move the prisoners of Oflag 64 to a camp outside Berlin, severing the connection between the Carters. The camp is liberated by advancing Russian units. Carter Sr.’s sources spend six weeks scouring Europe for Carter Jr., but he had been transferred to an Allied camp for American prisoners and released. The Carters are reunited by chance outside the 83rd Brigade Headquarters in Germany. Carter Jr. receives a Purple Heart and Bronze Star for his service. In later life, he founds a national organization to help former prisoners of war, and for the rest of his life, he sends assistance to the Polish family that helped him when he was a prisoner of war.

1946

Carter is named director and treasurer of Carter Publications, Inc., which owns the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and the WBAP radio and television stations.

1948

Carter Jr. is made national advertising director of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

1952

Named president of Carter Publications.

1953

As president and director of the YWCA board, Carter Jr. dedicates the 150-acre YMCA Camp Carter Recreation Facility; he marries George Ann Brown.

1954

Nenetta Carter is born.

1955

Assumes leadership of the Star-Telegram and presidency of the Amon G. Carter Foundation upon the death of Amon G. Carter Sr. The foundation, chartered in 1947 with an initial endowment of $8.5 million, was meant “to help people that didn’t have the opportunities that he [Amon Carter Sr.] did, or who couldn’t help themselves.” Speaking of Carter Jr.’s guidance, Katrine Deakins says, “He watched very closely over our investments to see that our money kept increasing. His thought was, the more money made, the more there would be to give away.”

Amon Carter III is born.

1956

Carter is named to the board of the Bureau of Advertising of the American Newspaper Publishers Association.

1957

As a director of American Airlines, Carter is instrumental in moving its headquarters to Fort Worth.

1959

Receives the Civic Achievement award from the L.F. Shanblum Lodge, B’nai B’rith.

George Carter is born.

1960

As an avid numismatist and significant collector of currency, Carter is named to the 18-member Assay Commission, a federal agency that tests and certifies the weight and quality of United States Treasury coins.

1961

Receives the Fort Worth Salesman of the Year Award from the Fort Worth Executive Club.

1966

Awarded the Boy Scouts Silver Beaver Award.

1969

Finances the repair and restoration of the last surviving Texas and Pacific Railroad steam locomotive, #610. It had been a gift to Carter Sr. in 1951, a symbol of the railroad’s significance to Fort Worth, and had been stationed outside Will Rogers Memorial Coliseum.

1973

Citing the Tax Reform Act of 1969, putting pressure on nonprofit foundations to dispose of profit-making operations, Carter Publications makes the difficult decision to sell the Star-Telegram and WBAP to Capital Cities Communications, Inc., for $80 million and the television station to LIN Broadcasting Co. for $30 million. Carter Jr. stays on as publisher, becoming a director of Capital Cities.

Receives the Fort Worth Exchange Club Golden Deeds Award.

1974

Carter becomes a minority owner of the Texas Rangers baseball team.

1979

Appointed chairman of the board of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram upon the death of longtime chairman Bert Honea.

1982

Carter Jr. dies at age 62. He is interred at Greenwood Cemetery. A 21-gun salute is given by Fort Worth Police in recognition of his outstanding support of the force. He is only the second civilian to receive this honor.

During his life, Carter worked with many civic and philanthropic organizations. He served on the boards of the Fort Worth Zoological Association, the United Way, the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, the Texas Tourist Foundation, the Trinity Improvement Association, and the Trinity River Authority. He was the executive board chairman of the Southwestern Exposition and Fat Stock Show, the chairman of the Jim Wright Congressional Club, the director of the West Texas Chamber of Commerce, the Texas Sports Hall of Fame, and the Greater Fort Worth Civic Leaders Association. He was a trustee of Texas Christian University, the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, and the Amon Carter Museum of American Art.