Stepping Up to the Plate

March arrives with the rhythm of spring training—a season of sharpening skills, finding your footing, and stepping back onto the field. For former Mountaineer Steve Carter ’08, that spirit mirrors the way Eastern Oregon University shaped his life, defined his friendships, and inspired his desire to give back. 

Carter first arrived in La Grande on July 4, 1969, in an old Ford station wagon, carrying little more than a baseball glove and a hope for direction. He was simply a young man searching for a place to learn, to belong, and to swing at his future. “It was a perfect fit,” Carter said. “A small town, good people, good players. It was where I needed to be.”

His early years at Eastern were marked by baseball achievements and deep friendships. Carter played for the Mountaineers in 1970, helping lead the team to an undefeated league season. The bonds he formed, both on and off the field, would endure across decades. “Average teams, I don’t remember much about,” he said. “But the great ones? You make friends for life.”

That promising start was interrupted when Carter was drafted and sent to Vietnam. Although frustration lingered at leaving the sport behind, he carried confidence in the work he performed while serving. “At the time, I was angry about being there, about missing the game,” he said. “But once I was in, I took pride in what I did. I did it well.”

 Returning to Eastern in 1972, he refused to let the war take baseball 

from him.  The game once again offered him purpose and belonging. And the teammates who supported him on the field would later support him in a more significant way.

Carter left Eastern after the 1972–73 season, short of graduation.

He felt older than his peers after returning from military service, and stepping away felt like the right decision. A successful career in real estate followed, yet his degree remained unfinished.

That changed in 2006, when he returned to campus as an EOU Athletic Hall of Fame Inductee. He learned he was only three credits short of completing his degree. 

His teammates escorted him to the Registrar’s Office, standing behind him so he could not leave, where he learned he could complete his degree by writing a paper about his life experiences and how his EOU education supported his success. He wrote the paper, and when he returned home from the induction ceremony, his diploma was waiting 

in his mailbox. The moment became deeply personal. 

Those same friendships and the sense of belonging that defined his time at Eastern shape Carter’s generosity today. “Every good player I ever played with has an ego, positively,” he said. “Part of the motivation for me doing this is that I don’t want to be forgotten; when I’m gone, I’d like to have given something back. And it’s perpetual. It never goes away.”

Carter hopes the university will someday have a new baseball field, a place where future Mountaineers can gather and where the spirit of the game can be felt across generations. “Imagine it’s a nice day in May,” he said. “You just say, ‘Hey, let’s go over and watch the game.’ That matters.”  

“If they know who came before them, maybe they’ll feel part of something bigger,” he said. Carter hopes future players will feel the same sense of connection that shaped his life, that they will embrace the friendships the game brings. “If you’re good and you work together, you’ll make friendships that last your whole life,” he said. “That’s what this is really about.”