Carpenter was born to Verba Glen Carpenter and Edna Earl Pullam in Hayti, Missouri. Graduate from Muskogee Central High School where he was Oklahoma All State. His brother, Lewis Glen "Lew" Carpenter played ten years of "Pro Ball" and thirty years of "Pro Coaching." He married Jeanne Etychison, and had Scott, Bruce and Lewis Todd Carpenter. He is a descendant of Thomas "Jack" Carpenter (born 1740 Virginia and died 1803 in North Carolina.