Dale Carter, 2012 Iowa Western named to NJCAA Football Hall of Fame Class of 2018

Dale Carter and the 2012 Iowa Western Football Team were named to the Class of 2018 for the NJCAA Football Hall of Fame on Monday.

Dale Carter, a 12-year NFL veteran, is one of the greatest football players to ever come out of Ellsworth Community College. He helped the Panthers finish 18-1 in his two years at the school, including a 9-0 finish as a sophomore in 1989. In his second season, Ellsworth ranked sixth in the nation in total team defense, allowing only 195.8 yards per game. Carter was a prominent part of the defensive passing scheme, where he helped limit opposing quarterbacks to just under 90 yards per game in the air.

Carter went on to finish his collegiate career at the University of Tennessee where he was a star on defense. He was named first-team All-SEC and earned All-American honors as well. Carter was a first-round pick in the 1992 NFL Draft, and was named the NFL's Defensive Rookie of the Year with the Kansas City Chiefs. Carter played for five different NFL teams, including the Chiefs, Denver Broncos, Minnesota Vikings, New Orleans Saints, and Baltimore Ravens. 

The 2012 Iowa Western Reivers finished the season with an unblemished mark of 12-0 and had one of the most dominant seasons in NJCAA football history. In only their fourth year as a football program, they finished their perfect season with an NJCAA Football National Championship. 

Led by Jake Waters, the 2012 NJCAA Offensive Player of the Year, they averaged 62.8 points per game, a number that has not been topped since then. The Reivers outscored its opponents 753-153 on the season, and the offense led the nation in 11 statistical categories. While the offense was shredding opposing defenses, the Reiver defense was suffocating opposing offenses while allowing just 12.8 points per contest, to go along with two shutouts on the year. In the NJCAA title game, Iowa Western allowed just seven points and 125 yards of total offense to Butler (Kan.), defeating them 27-7 in The Graphic Edge Bowl to claim the championship.