While the reason why Cartmell was nicknamed "Bloody Neck" is not entirely known, author Ken Rappoport speculates that it either comes from his use of the term Bloody due to the fact his family came from Cartmel, England, or from the fact that he had a childhood accident where he lost two and a half fingers from his right hand when an ax slipped while he was chopping wood.
In the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis, Missouri, Cartmell won silver medals in both the 100 meter dash and the 200 meter straightaway. He also participated in the 60 meters event but was eliminated in the repechage.
Cartmell was a member of the gold medal American medley relay team at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London. He was the second runner on the squad, running 200 meters. He followed William Hamilton and was followed by John Taylor and Mel Sheppard. In both the first round heat and the final Cartmell received a lead from Hamilton and built upon it before turning over the race to Taylor. The team won both races, running the 1,600 meters in 3:27.2 in the first round and 3:29.4 in the final. Cartmell's split for the final was 22.2 seconds. He won the bronze medal in the 200 meter race at the same Games, taking his second medal in the event. In the first round, Cartmell won with a time of 23.0 seconds. The second round resulted in a 22.6-second time and another win. Cartmell placed third in the final with a time of 22.7 seconds. In the 100 meters, Cartmell placed fourth. He won his first round heat and semifinal with times of 11.0 and 11.2 seconds, respectively. He ran the final in 11.0 seconds.
Anecdote about run-in with policeman
While at the 1908 Olympics, Cartmell reportedly got into a fight with a policeman who "thrust himself into face and jabbered something". In response, Cartmell took the policeman's hand, pushed him and then ran off knowing that the policeman could not catch him on foot. Later, the police showed up at the hotel where the track team for the U.S. team was staying and arrested Charles Hollaway, another member of the team that looked like Cartmell. Cartmell later found out about the mistaken arrest and tried to do something about it, but by the time Cartmell got to the police station Hollaway had already been bailed out and nothing more became of it.
Cartmell came to UNC in 1909 as a track-and-field coach for the Tar Heels. In 1910, student Marvin Rich along with certain school officials helped lobby to create a varsity basketball squad at UNC. There was no coach for this basketball program, and UNC did not have enough money at the time to hire another full-time coach for this sport. Cartmell was asked to be the first coach even though he did not know much about the sport. Cartmell coached his first college basketball game on January 27, 1910 when UNC's varsity basketball team played in their first intercollegiate basketball game in Bynum Gymnasium against Virginia Christian College, which later became Lynchburg College. The Tar Heels won their first game 42–21. The Tar Heels would end their first season with a 7–4 record. In 1914, Cartmell was charged with illegally playing dice with known gamblers and was fired after the 1914 season. He would be replaced by Charles Doak.
