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Carl "The Ticket Guy" White was born
in 1965 to Marie Bowen and John Humber White.
At the time of birth Humber was 65 years old and
Marie was 45. Despite assurances from his mother
Carl spent his childhood believing that he was
adopted or even worse stolen from much younger
and wealthier parents.
Carl knew his father late in his life as a locksmith
and his mother as a homemaker. "My parents
lived lives that were more about living a life
than having a career or unfortunately making money.
My father worked many jobs through out his life
including schoolteacher, dockworker, crane operator,
machine repairman, and train engineer, which was
his great passion. He did not make much money
or save any of it for his later years but he certainly
lived one hell of a life from what I understand.”
Carl was born and raised in Greenville, a small
town near the coast of North Carolina. Greenville
is famous for having the highest per capita of
tobacco barns and for being home to East Carolina
University, the Pirates of ECU. Carl, having no
interest in either tobacco barns or Pirates knew
at an early age that he was not destined to spend
his life in Greenville.
Carl eventually found his way to Chapel Hill and
the University of North Carolina.
"The only reason I had for attending UNC
besides the chance to get out of Greenville was
that I was a fan of the Tar Heels basketball team
which at the time included a player by the name
of Michael Jordan. That was enough for me. To
this day when people ask me why I got in to the
ticket business I tell them Michael Jordan."
It was while in Chapel Hill that Carl discovered
that there was money to be made from tickets.
"I was the kid standing in line for basketball
and concert tickets at the 'Dean Dome'. Being
the country bumpkin I was at the time (still am,
ask anyone) I thought camping out for tickets
to see a big time concert or college basketball
game was exciting. Even more exciting was the
discovery that there was a great demand from people
for me to help them get tickets and they were
willing to pay for my time and service. I soon
discovered that in the same way people will pay
for people to clean their homes, drive their cars
or cook their food I could make a good living
getting people the tickets they wanted.”
This was the humble beginning of a career in the
ticket business for Carl.
“I have for a long time been the 'Ticket
Guy' to anyone that knows me”.
Carl is willing to share the rest of the story
with anyone that wants to listen and is buying
the cocktails.
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