With Carter's encouragement, lawyer/businessman Eddie Elias proposed a pro tour to a number of players at the 1958 ABC Open Championships in Syracuse, New York. Carter was one of 33 bowlers who each donated $50 to get the PBA started, and Elias would later become Carter's business manager. Although the PBA was not formed until Carter was 32 years old, he still won seven PBA titles (two of them majors) including the inaugural PBA National Championship in . He won four titles and $49,000 in prize money in alone. That year, he also made 18 top-five finishes (still a PBA record), including seven straight top-five finishes (a feat matched only by Dick Weber since), and he was named the Bowling Writers Association of America's Bowler of the Year.