Charlotte, NC

Sadly, it’s official: Mike Minter, the Carolina Panthers’ legend who led a career high in tackles and games started, announced his retirement Tuesday.

At a news conference at the team’s training camp site, he wiped away tears (that’s most likely why he was wearing sunglasses) and said his knees were giving him so much pain that he had to quit a year earlier than originally planned.

“I want to say this is probably the second hardest thing that I’ve ever had to do,” Minter said. “The first thing was losing my mom, and the second thing is losing football. This is a game I love, a game I have been playing for a long time and it was a hard decision to come to.”

“When we think about having the privilege to have a person who starts and ends his career the way Mike has, it’s extraordinary,” said Panthers’ owner Jerry Richardson said while fighting back his own tears (as many at the news conference were already doing).

Minter was the Panthers’ second-round pick in 1997, and became a fan favorite due to his trademark toughness, hard hits, time spent on-field as a Panther and his work for and in the community.

He has 467 more tackles than any other player in Panther history, and has compiled a number of records during his time as Carolina’s best: 141 starts, 94 consecutive starts, 9 fumble recoveries and 4 interception returns for touchdowns.

Although Minter is just 5′ 10″ and weighs in at 195 pounds, he’s overcome three knee surgeries and a staph infection to become Carolina’s key player. He hadn’t missed a game since early 2001, despite several injuries that would at least temporarily sideline a normal player. He played with a torn biceps muscle and even on a broken foot during Carolina’s loss to New England in the Super Bowl at the end of the 2003 season.

Panthers coach John Fox remembered when a speaker asked the players about their contribution to the team.

“He asked us, ‘Is it better now than before you came?”‘ Fox said. “I can say right now, Mike, this football team is a better team.”

For some time now, Minter’s knee problems have worsened. He took a pay cut in March and said that 2007 would be his final season. Still, he was willing to come in to start at free safety. But he’s been unable to practice normally at training camp and told reporters last week he was thinking about moving up his retirement; he just wasn’t sure if his body would hold up over the full, 16-game season. He informed the rest of the team about his decision Sunday night during a team meeting.

“Coming into the offseason, you figure you will get healthy, get your knees back and try to get some more magic out of them legs,” he said. “At the end of the day, there wasn’t anything left.

Over the past five seasons, Minter was the Panthers’ defensive captain and certainly well respected in the locker room as well as in the community, where he was involved in several business and charitable concerns. His fans were always important to him, and he would gladly take the time to sign autographs mix and mingle with them.

“That’s the one point that needs to be made: this was a man off the football field,” said veteran quarterback Jake Delhomme. “I’m not talking in a masculine type of way. I’m talking in a fatherly type of way and the civic person he was. This a true man and a true pro when he came to play.”

Though the Panthers have lost a valued player, Charlotte is fortunate to have had a warm, considerate and compassionate friend. We all wish Mike, his wife and kids, the happiest of lives

… and a quick healing of those knees!