Bart Starr’s legacy is vast and historic
Posted May 26, 2019
al.com
Hall of Fame quarterback Bart Starr and his wife Cherry have been married form 62 years. They talked to us about life, love and marriage at their Hoover home. Photos of Bart and Cherry Starr. (Joe Songer/jsonger@al.com). al.com
Bart Starr meant more to the game of football than arguably any other player in the history of the sport.
But that is only a small part of his legacy.
Starr’s grace, humility, courage and love for his wife, Cherry, and their family are what truly defined him. Starr died on Sunday in Birmingham. He was 85. A former Sidney Lanier and Alabama football player, Starr was the MVP of the first two Super Bowls and quarterback of the best team in the NFL at a time when football became America’s No.1 sport.
Born and raised in Montgomery, Starr moved to the Birmingham area after retiring from professional football and lived in Hoover. Charity work was his great passion beyond football, and the NFL’s Bart Starr Award, given to a player each year who "best exemplifies outstanding character and leadership in the home, on the field, and in the community,” honors Starr’s character.
Legendary quarterback Bart Starr dead at 85
Montgomery native, Alabama alum led Green Bay Packers to 5 NFL championships
Elevated to stardom from obscurity by legendary Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi, Starr helped build a dynasty in small-town Green Bay, Wis., that launched the NFL and professional football into the national consciousness.
Lombardi was a demanding man, and Starr would come to be known as the embodiment of what the Hall of Fame coach wanted in not only a player, but a quarterback: a pinpoint passer, sure of hand under center, and a confident field general who led his men with toughness and intelligence.
“We all tried to play up to 100 percent of our ability, and none of us quite made it” wrote former Green Bay right guard Jerry Kramer, “but Starr came the closest.”
It was Kramer who delivered the lead block for Starr’s touchdown run to win the “Ice Bowl,” one of the most famous games in football history. Amid a windchill of minus-46 degrees at Lambeau Field, the Packers defeated the Dallas Cowboys 21-17 in the 1967 NFL championship game on Starr’s quarterback sneak. He scored with 16 seconds left.
That run was quintessential Starr, who was at his best in the postseason. He went 9-1.
"The quarterback’s job is to be a coach on the field,” Starr once said. “I’d say there are three things a quarterback must have. One, he’s got to have the respect of his teammates. Two, his authority must be unquestioned. And three, his teammates must be willing to go to the gates of hell with him.”
Starr’s only loss in the postseason was his first appearance, a 17-13 defeat to the Philadelphia Eagles in the 1960 NFL championship game. But in defeat a legendary team was forged. Starr and the Packers went on to win five NFL championships over a seven-year span, including three in a row and the first two Super Bowls.
While he won back-to-back Super Bowls, Starr preferred to wear his pre-merger, 1967 NFL championship ring in retirement. Inlaid with three diamonds, the ring signified the peak of greatness for Lombardi’s Packers, and of course that brutally frigid night in Green Bay.
Starr revered his legendary coach, who pushed his quarterback to greatness early in his professional career. For many years, Starr’s office desk in his Hoover home featured a picture of Lombardi and one of his famous quotes: "Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence."
Those words summed up Starr’s career. He worked hard, led by example and got the most out of his 6-1, 196-pound frame.
"If you work harder than somebody else, chances are you'll beat him though he has more talent than you,” Starr said.
Starr called himself Lombardi’s “coach on the field,” and in an era when most NFL quarterbacks called their own plays, Starr did it better than anyone. Extensive work in the film room alongside Lombardi set him apart. No one could read a defense like Starr. His preparation set a standard for quarterbacks of future generations.
“Out on the field, he knows what’s going on with the other team’s defense,” Lombardi once said of Starr. “He knows it better than any of the coaches.”
Said Starr of his preparation for games: “It takes me about a week and a half to really analyze a game — play by play.”
Starr is one of only two players, the other being Terry Bradshaw of the Pittsburgh Steelers, to win Super Bowl MVP awards in consecutive years. Only Joe Montana (three) and Tom Brady (four) have been named MVP of the Super Bowl more times than Starr.
Former Alabama coach Bill Curry was Starr’s center for the Packers during Super Bowl I, a 35-10 victory against the Kansas City Chiefs at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Starr completed 16 of 23 passes for 250 yards and two touchdowns to go along with one interception. It was one of three interceptions Starr would throw throughout his postseason career.
More than 44 years after his final game in 1971, Starr’s quarterback rating remains the highest in NFL postseason history (104.8 rating). He threw 15 touchdowns and 1,753 yards in his 10 postseason games, and Starr’s three interceptions are the fewest in NFL postseason history among quarterbacks with at least 150 attempts.
Among those quarterbacks, Starr’s postseason interception percentage (1.41) remains the second-lowest in league history. First on that list is Drew Brees (1.29), another quarterback known for his accuracy.
By any measure, he was one of the best postseason quarterbacks in NFL history, but his five championships put him in elite company. Above all, Starr was a winner, and his five NFL championships were the most of any quarterback until Brady won his sixth Super Bowl this year.
Championships made Starr famous, but perseverance defined him.
Starr suffered a back injury at Alabama during a hazing incident, and it kept him off the field for most of his time with the Crimson Tide. When the injury disqualified him from military service, he gave professional football a shot. Starr was selected in the 17th round of the 1956 NFL Draft. He credited Alabama basketball coach Johnny Dee for recommending him to Jack Vainisi, the Packers’ director of player personnel.
Even then it was hard to envision Starr developing into the player he would become. It took three years and two coaching changes for Starr’s intelligence, experience and ability to meld a winner.
Starr started most of the Packers’ games in 1958, and the team went 1-10-1.
In 1959, everything changed. The Packers hired Lombardi, who brought stability to the Packers and Starr, who from 1954 at Alabama to 1958 at Green Bay played for five different head coaches in six years.
"Coach Lombardi showed me that by working hard and using my mind, I could overcome my weakness to the point where I could be one of the best,” Starr said.
Joseph Goodman is a columnist for the Alabama Media Group. He’s on Twitter @JoeGoodmanJr.
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