Former Notre Dame All-America linebacker Jim Carroll ('65) -who went on to a successful career as an owner of automobile dealerships in the southeast - has been a member of the Monogram Club leadership since 1994, serving a three-year term on the board of directors before assuming his spot in the presidential rotation in 1997. He served as the organization's president from 2001-03 and currently is part of the Monogram Club's past presidents council. As team captain for Ara Parseghian's first football team at Notre Dame, Carroll earned 1964 All-America honors as a guard while playing alongside Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback John Huarte and three other All-Americans: end Jack Snow, defensive back Tom Carey and defensive tackle Kevin Hardy. Carroll - who currently resides in Davie, Fla. - has been involved in the automobile dealership business since 1967, founding J. Carroll Enterprises that has included as many as nine dealerships through the three-state area of Tennessee, Georgia and Florida. He served as president of the South Florida Automobile Dealers Association during the 1990s and his dealerships have received several national awards. Carroll, who retired from the day-to-day operations in 2000, also has owned several real-estate holding companies, insurance companies and a restaurant in Cooper City, Fla. The Notre Dame Club of Fort Lauderdale honored Carroll as its 2001 Man of the Year, in recognition of his longstanding business success and charitable work within that part of the state. Carroll's dealerships have served as a primary sponsor for fundraisers benefiting cancer survivors and have helped collect donations for the Prestige Club's toys-for-tots program. Carroll earned his start in the automobile business working for Koons Ford in Falls Church, Va., from 1967-80. He built or remodeled three dealerships in the Washington, D.C., area before moving to Hollywood, Fla., to build a Koons Ford branch in the Fort Lauderdale area. A three-year starter at Notre Dame, Carroll's accomplishments in the trenches included being named the UPI national lineman of the week after helping beat North Carolina in 1963 (21-7). He also was named MVP of the 1964 Notre Dame football team and was presented with a Presidential Medal from Notre Dame. After graduating in 1965 with a degree in communications arts, Carroll was drafted by the New York Giants and played one season with that club before being traded to the Washington Redskins, where he played four seasons. Born May 6, 1943, in Jonesboro, Ark., as one of three sons of Leonard (a career military man) and Mary Carroll, the future Notre Dame captain grew up in the Atlanta area and attended Marist High School, where he was an all-state football player and won the 1961 heavyweight division in the Georgia-Alabama state wrestling competition. His brother William was a swimmer and football player at Georgia. Carroll is the father of four children - daughter Tara and sons John-Paul, Cody and Dillon - and returns regularly to Notre Dame for football weekends and various on-campus meetings. |
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