Bart Starr (January 9, 1934-May 26, 2019) was a legendary figure for the Green Bay Packers. Wearing #15, he was a Quarterback for the Packers from 1956 to 1971, in which the Packers won NFL Championships in the 1961, 1962, 1965, 1966, and 1967 seasons. Following the NFL championships in 1966 and 1967, he led the Packers to convincing victories over the champions of the rival AFL in the first two Super Bowls and was named the Most Valuable Player of both games. He and Tom Brady are the only players to Quarterback a team to five NFL championships. He earned four Pro Bowl selections and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1977.
After his retirement as a Player, he served as an Assistant Coach (Quarterbacks) in 1972 and was promoted to Head Coach of the Packers three years later in 1975 and served until 1983.
Starr was drafted in the 17th round of the NFL Draft in 1956, out of the University of Alabama. He was a backup to Tobin Rote in 1956 and split time with Babe Parilli until 1959, Vince Lombardi's first year as Packers Coach. In that season, Lombardi pulled Quarterback Lamar McHan in favor of Starr, and he held the starting job henceforth. In just two seasons, Starr led his team to NFL Championships in 1961 and 1962. In 1966, Starr was named the NFL's Most Valuable Player (MVP) by the Associated Press (AP), the Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA) and UPI.
Bart Starr
Starr was responsible for calling plays when he was Quarterback, as was the norm at the time. One of his most famous play calls was in the Ice Bowl against the Dallas Cowboys in the NFL championship game on the final day of 1967. Instead of handing off (as the play was designed), Starr sneaked the ball himself, and with the winning touchdown, the Packers won their third straight NFL Championship, the fifth in seven years. Two weeks later in Miami, the Packers defeated the AFL champion Oakland Raiders 33–14 in Super Bowl II, Lombardi's final game as head coach of the Packers. Starr's playing career ended at the conclusion of the 1971 season.
In 1965, while with the Packers, he and his wife Cherry helped co-found Rawhide Boys Ranch, in New London, Wisconsin, a facility designed to help at-risk and troubled boys throughout the state, and was affiliated with it for the rest of his life.
Head coach[]
Immediately after his retirement as a player, he served as an Assistant Coach (Quarterbacks) in 1972, when the Packers won the NFC Central division title at 10–4 with Quarterback Scott Hunter. Starr became Head Coach of the Packers three years later, in 1975. His regular season record was a disappointing 52–76–2 (.408), with a playoff record of 1–1. Posting a 5–3–1 record in the strike-shortened season of 1982, Starr's Packers made their first Playoff appearance in ten years (and their last for another 11 years). They defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 41–16 in the expanded wild card round of 16 teams on January 8, 1983, then lost to the Dallas Cowboys 37–26 in the divisional round the following week. After a disappointing 8–8 finish the following year, Starr was dismissed in favor of his former Teammate, Forrest Gregg, who previously led the Cincinnati Bengals to Super Bowl XVI and Coached the Cleveland Browns before that.
Personal life[]
In his later years, Starr suffered from numerous health issues, most notably a stroke in 2014. However, he was able to make it to Lambeau Field on Thanksgiving 2015, when the Packers retired Brett Favre's jersey number at halftime. He was brought out on a golf cart and embraced Favre. After the game, a photographer took a picture of him, Favre, and Aaron Rodgers. Starr died on May 26, 2019 from a stroke at age 85 in Birmingham, Alabama.