Honoured Members Database

North Carolina has been a basketball hotbed for a very long time and is steeped in tradition. But back in the early 1980's, one young man chose a non-traditional path to pursue his education and play the game he loved. Brandon University is grateful for that choice. When Jerry Hemmings recruited John Carson to come north to the Canadian prairies for the 1982 academic year, he knew he had something special.

During his five years as a Bobcat, Carson was a CIAU (now known as CIS) First Team All-Canadian each and every year from 1982-83 through 1986-87. Brandon University legends Patrick Jebbison and Keith Vessell run a distant second with two First Team nods each. Carson was dominant during his university career as evidenced by his being named a tournament all-star 21 times and tourney MVP 11 times. Named Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) Player of the year for four successive years from 1982-86, he was also named a CIAU Final 8 All-Star in 1983-84.

The 1985-86 season was a magical one for John Carson. He led the nation with a 27.2 points per game scoring average and was named the winner of the Mike Moser Trophy as the CIAU Player of the Year. The only thing missing from his university basketball career was a national championship.

He led the GPAC in scoring the next year with a 23.3 ppg average and at the CIAU Final 8 Championship in 1986-87, Carson was named the MVP as Brandon captured its first national title. With the Canadian University crown, his amateur career was truly complete.

John Carson went on to play professional basketball in the World Basketball League (WBL) for both the Saskatchewan Storm and the Calgary 88's and also played in Europe. Brandon University retired his number 42 in 1986 and inducted him into their Hall of Fame a decade later. He was also inducted into the Manitoba Basketball Hall of Fame in 2001 and currently resides in Calgary.