Carl Sanders Carl Edward Sanders , Sr . ( born May 15 , 1925 ) , is an American politician who served as the 74th Governor of the state of Georgia from 1963 to 1967 . Sanders was born in Augusta in Richmond County in eastern Georgia , and attended the University of Georgia at Athens on a football scholarship . A backup , left - handed quarterback , Sanders received little playing time , which prompted coach Wally Butts to recount years later , " Carl , if I had known you were going to be governor , I ' d have played you more . " He was a member of the Chi Phi fraternity , Order of the Greek Horsemen , " Gridiron Secret Society " and the Phi Kappa Literary Society . He left to fight in World War II , enlisting in the United States Army Air Corps in 1943 and became a B - 17 Flying Fortress bomber pilot . After the war , he returned to complete his bachelor ' s and law degrees . In 1954 , Sanders won a seat in the Georgia House of Representatives . In 1956 , he was elected to the Georgia Senate and served two years as president pro tempore of the chamber . In the 1962 Democratic gubernatorial primary , Sanders defeated former Governor Marvin Griffin . Sanders received 494 , 978 votes ( 58 . 7 percent ) to Griffin ' s 332 , 746 ( 39 percent ) . Thereafter , Griffin largely retired from politics . Sanders was the first Georgia governor from an urban area since the 1920s . He was the first modern Georgia governor nominated in the Democratic primary by the popular vote after the abolition of the County Unit System , a kind of electoral college formerly used to elect Georgia governors . As governor , Sanders worked to improve education and the environment and led the transition toward racial desegregation , cooperating with U . S . President s John F . Kennedy and Lyndon B . Johnson on complying with civil rights laws . Under the term limit law then in effect , Sanders was ineligible to run for re - election in 1966 . In the general election campaign that year , he endorsed Democratic nominee Lester Maddox , a segregationist , as his successor though the two had disagreed on many issues . At the Democratic State Convention in Macon on October 15 , 1966 , Sanders told the delegates : " A man should be loyal to his country , his family , to his God and to his political party - - and don ' t you ever forget it . " In his speech , Sanders likened Maddox ' s Republican opponent , U . S . Representative Howard Callaway , to the " arrogance of Richard Nixon , the chameleon ability of Ronald Reagan to switch rather than fight , and the callous concern for human needs that is a throwback to McKinley , Harding , and Coolidge . " The " Marietta Daily Journal " said that Sanders in supporting Maddox had glorified party at the expense of statecraft . Callaway criticized Sanders for mishandling the state budget surplus , a position which weakened the Republican among anti - Maddox moderate voters . Sanders left office at the peak of his popularity and turned down several offers from President Johnson . Instead he returned to mount an unsuccessful campaign for governor in 1970 against future U . S . President Jimmy Carter , who was then accused by some of having employed race - baiting tactics to defeat Sanders in the Democratic primary . Carter ' s campaign criticized Sanders for paying tribute to Martin Luther King , Jr . , and distributed grainy photographs of Sanders arm - in - arm with two black men . At the time , Sanders was part - owner of the Atlanta Hawks , and the two black men were Hawks players celebrating after a victory . Oddly , Maddox , his own term as governor having expired , was elected as Carter ' s lieutenant governor , though the two disagreed on many issues . After the loss in the primary to Carter , Sanders left electoral politics to concentrate on the practice of law . As of 2007 , he was the chairman emeritus at the law firm of Troutman Sanders LLP .