Colter dominated on both sides of the ball during his days with the Tigers. He was the captain of the All-State defense as a linebacker in 1968 and was also a first-team All-State halfback that year.

Colter won four state championships as a senior — football, basketball, baseball, and track— and was also an All-State fullback on Marana’s 1967 championship football team.

One son, Cleveland “Cadillac” Colter III, was an All-American at USC, and another, Spencer Colter, won a national championship with Colorado in 1990. His grandson, Kain, is the starting quarterback at Northwestern. Cleveland II died under anesthesia in the mid-1970s after going in for a dental appointment.