Coming to Clarke University as a freshman, Carr had never seen snow and was a long way from home -- where the record low temperature of 27 degrees came in 1869 and the lowest average temperature for any month is 42.8 degrees.

He only got one warning about the harsh conditions of winter in the Midwest as he was about to set out for Dubuque: there was no substitute for actually being there and experiencing it first-hand.

But at his first sight of the first snowfall that winter four years ago, Carr was instantly turned into a little kid again.

Even though the novelty faded away fast.

"I was just fascinated by it, I wanted to go touch it," said Carr, now a senior. "But then after about a day I was ready for the sun to start shining again."

Winter weather wasn't the only major change Carr had to get used to. The 6-foot-5 forward for the Crusaders' men's basketball team is achieving both academically and athletically nearly 10,000 miles away from his hometown of Melbourne, Australia.

But he is just one of two current Clarke student-athletes born overseas who are now helping the Crusaders in the middle of one of their best campaigns in recent seasons.

Franz Winkler, a 6-foot-4 freshman guard from Lutherstadt Wittenberg, Germany -- a city of just less than 50,000 people approximately 71 miles southwest of Berlin -- is the other.

Carr is averaging 4.7 points per game in 17 games this season following Saturday night's 102-88 loss at William Penn. He had a team-high 19 points for the Crusaders, the ninth different player to lead Clarke (11-6 overall, 3-4 Midwest Collegiate Conference) in scoring. Winkler averages 4.4 points per game, but missed four games following an injury.

COMING TO CLARKE

Winkler did not have quite as far to travel for his first year at Clarke after spending last season at St. John's Military Academy in Delafield, Wis. Like most, he was just looking for an opportunity to show what he could bring to the table.

"They had a German assistant coach there and he got me over here because I always wanted to play in America, go to college and I (wanted) a chance to showcase in front of college coaches," Winkler said.

Now a business administration major, Winkler played one season at St. John's and impressed Clarke coach Jerry Drymon, who said he had recruited a few other players from the school. When Winker was still available at the beginning of May this past year, Drymon scooped him up.

Carr, meanwhile, had signed up for a scouting service when he began looking for post-secondary schools.

The service he joined created profiles and highlight videos for potential recruits, then sent those out to NCAA and NAIA schools, as well as various other junior colleges, Carr said.

"Fortunately, Clarke was the school that contacted me," he said. "We kept in regular contact and it just seemd like a nice place and a good fit for me."

Carr is majoring in communications and will graduate after the spring semester.

"Elliott and Franz are some of our hardest workers," Drymon said. "They spend a lot of time in the weight room, get a lot of extra shots up and spend a lot of time working at the game."

TRYING TO FIT IN

For Carr, the difference between the United States and home was not all that drastic.

"Culturally not so much," he said. "The countries are pretty similar in the sense they're both English speaking.

"The biggest thing was everything in the States is just on a bigger scale. Wal-Mart, all the stores are just bigger and everything is more, portions are bigger with food -- which I don't mind -- but everything is just kind of bigger. It was just kind of a shock at first to see how big everything is and how everything is on such a grand scale."

Winkler faced a steeper learning curve coming from a country that spoke a different language, but he speaks English well and hopes to eventually earn a Masters degree.

The key for both Carr and Winkler was getting involved, both in campus life and around the community. Both student-athletes have become well-known around campus.

"The school's not huge," Winkler said. "I'm on the basketball team and I'm from Germany. Everybody knows I'm the guy with the crazy accent."

Carr, who was featured on a billboard on Dubuque's west side promoting Clarke, was asked by another student-athlete during a photo shoot if he was about to have his face emblazoned across another sign.

"Elliott is a great example of someone who has become immersed in the community. His face is on billboards," Drymon said. "He's really a kid who has gotten involved and maximized his four years in school.

"(And Franz) has only been here a semester, but everyone knows him. I think that helps the transition, the more involved you are."

DIFFERENT STYLES OF PLAY

Both players have faced steep learning curves in adapting their game from an international style to the Americanized version.

"In their case, the way we teach in America is different than the way they are tought growing up," Drymon said. "I coached a team in Europe this summer. The game is played different and there is a learning curve that comes with that and they've worked really hard.

"One big difference is footwork," he added. "What we consider travels aren't necessarily over there."

That comes in play when a player completes a jump step, picking up his dribble and landing with both feet near the hoop. In international play, ballhandlers can pivot and then step, as Winkler demonstrated in an atrium at Clarke's Kehl Center. In America, a step after the pivot is a turnover.

Another major difference, Drymon said, is that in America players can begin to move without dribbling the ball. Internationally, players must begin their dribble before they can begin to take that first step.

Both Carr and Winkler agree: The international game favors fundamentals while the flavor of hoops played in the States is faster, more athletic and has a tendency to feature one-on-one skills more often.

"It's a bit faster here, better athletes ... it was a little bit of an adjustment," Carr said. "The work ethic in general is a little bit higher and just better athleticism, whereas at home it's more fundamentals and shooting.

"Here, guys are dunking."

Added Winkler: "The game in Europe and Germany is more fundamental ... here, if you're not athletic with your skills you have to be clever."

MAKING AN IMPACT

By his estimation, Drymon has coached hundreds of players in his career.

He has seen varying levels of success and impressive individual performances at each of his stops, spanning 15 years with head coaching stints at Southwestern Community College (2004-08) and Clarke (2008-present), and time as an assistant at his alma mater, Mount Mercy (1997-2004). All of which followed an All-American playing career. He was enshrined in the Mount Mercy Hall of Fame in 2005.

So it may be surprising to hear him say that of all those players, the one he believes to be the hardest working is a senior reserve playing just 7.8 minutes per game.

"In my 15 years of coaching, he's probably worked harder than any kid I've ever coached," Drymon said of Carr. "He's really worked hard at his craft and I think he's a good example of what you can do for yourself by putting the time in."

LONG WAY FROM HOME

Carr is 9,550 miles away from his hometown of Melbourne. Winkler's home in Wittenberg is only about 4,300 miles away.

Moving that far away right out of high school would be a daunting task for many. But as Winkler sees it, he would have been moving out anyway.

"It's not super tough because if you look at it, I'm graduated from high school and normally if (you do that) you're going to go away from your family," he said. "You're going to go to college, if not you're going to start working and live in your own place. Not a lot of people stay at home after they graduate from high school."

Unlike most other students at Clarke, Carr and Winkler are way too far from home to make the weekend trip home every few months. But luckily for those two, they are doing this in the 21st Century.

With the benefit of the Intenet and modern technology, Australia and Germany have never been closer to America, thanks in large part to Facebook and Skype and other advancements in communication.

"I got an app for my phone, it's like a walkie talkie. I can speak into my phone and in five seconds it's going to send it to my dad in Germany," Winkler said. "If I'm homesick I can talk to my family right away and with social media I can contact friends.

"But sometimes it's hard because you don't see them for like five or six months, a long period, then when you go home you enjoy it even more."

Making it even easier though, is knowing that your closest friends on your team will help make you feel at home.

Even if that home is 10,000 miles away.

"Seeing these guys every day and just being with them, it's helped a lot," Carr said. "It's just people you can rely on, you can talk to.

"It's just basically having a family away from home."